The 90th Annual Hunger Games
by Kousei13
Summary: The rebellion failed. Everyone involved was killed or executed and a new age of victors rose. Now the Capitol is keeping every single district under control with their Hunger Games. 24 go in, 1 comes out.
1. District 1 reaping

**I do not own the Hunger Games. It is all owned by Suzanne Collins.**

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**Diamond Illuminare, 16, D1F**

I lazily drag myself out of bed and inspect myself in the mirror, ugh I have such bad bed hair. My brown hair is sticking out on all sides, up, down, diagonal, to the sides. I'm so happy no boys or anything can see me like this because this is completely and utterly horrible. My light brown eyes are very sleepy, barely open and I have 'sleep' in my eyes from having them shut for a long time. I know its reaping day today and I'm slightly anxious, my parents want me to volunteer today because they believe in me. I believe in myself for sure, but I've seen kids that are better than me in the career academy. I lean over and open my curtains and the sunlight shines into my depressing dark room. "I need some fresh air" I say to myself and swing open the window, I guess I should probably get ready, the reaping is in about three hours, I have plenty of time to get ready but I don't want to be late that's for sure. The last guy who was late to the reaping got whipped about twenty times.

After I finish showering (yea almost everyone in district one can afford a shower) I throw on my reaping clothes. I brush my hair and blow dry it, leaving it looking excellent and smelling nice again, no more bed hair for Diamond. I throw on my reaping clothes, a large light blue dress that stands out from the crowd and a blue bow in my hair that will make all my admirers swoon when they see me. District one won the last games and I intend to keep that streak. I may not be the best in district one but I sure as hell will be the best in that arena. _I just have to believe._ I finish getting ready and for good measure put on my high heels I bought yesterday, I don't want to be wearing something so last year on my day right?

"Come on Diamond hurry up!" My dad calls out as I finish putting them on.

"Coming dad!" I reply.

I don't hate my family in the least, but sometimes they can be a bit annoying. So I open my wooden door and walk down the steps, my mother smiles proudly at me. "You're going to do great out there Diamond!" She says and pulls me in for a hug. The three of us make it to the reaping just in time, I register and stand with the other sixteen year old girls. Our district escort then starts his speech and starts with the girls.

"Cashmere Grillian!" He announces.

I instant step out and yell "I volunteer!" I bravely walk up on stage and snatch the microphone from him. "My name is Diamond Illuminare and this is my time!"

**Scout Palmer, 15, D1M**

I can't believe I have to do this, I'm actually expected to either get my name drawn or volunteer. You see our career coach really likes me, apparently I'm some sort of 'career prodigy' meaning I can use almost anything after only being a career for a few years. The weapons weren't that hard if I'm perfectly honest, it just took me a while to master first aid. He really thinks I'll be the next victor when I'm only fifteen. I'm not even strong, I'm only like 5'6 and I'm pretty skinny, I'm not like some of the huge muscular guys you see pumping weights at the gym every day. I guess after I beat one of them in a spar the career coach thought that I was the one, he wants me to be in the games this year. He said that if any careers tried to volunteer for me they'd be kicked out the academy.

So I guess I'm in this one way or another.

I've just finished getting ready. I take a look at myself in the mirror, I have light blue eyes and jet black hair that I like to keep gelled up. But I guess in the arena it won't be gelled up. A lot of people like to say 'I'm too cute or too small to be a career'. This actually pisses me off, just because I'm small doesn't mean I can't win the games. I swear our district is so fixated on physical strength they forget all the other basic things you can do in a fight. Like throwing a knife or hiding in a tree while raining down bow and arrows on your enemy, maybe even some traps! There's so much more to being a career than just snapping neck and beating someone down with your fists.

I sigh as I walk over to the reaping and register with the other fifteen year old boys, I don't have any friends, I'm not of the quiet type. I guess if I died the only people who'd miss me are my family. I don't like to socialize much; I guess that's the only thing that needs work, my leadership. But then again I'm not so intimidating so I guess there's not much I can do about that. Our escort announces a name and of course there's a volunteer called Diamond, she seems like one of the arrogant types. And then the boys.

"Scout Palmer!"

Huh I guess I didn't need to volunteer after all. I'm kicked out of the crowd and I walk up to take the stage and our escort is surprised when no volunteer presents themselves. And then I'm forced to shake hands with Diamond. I see the career coach, he has a wide smile on his face and gives me a a nod. He wants me to make district one proud, I have to make district one proud. And together me and Diamond march into the justice building.


	2. District 2 reaping

**Ziana Cubic, 16, D2F**

**Beep! Beep! Beep!**

I grumpily drag myself out of bed, I don't want to get out of bed, I really don't want to get out of bed but I know I have to, it's the reaping. If I had the choice I'd be still sleeping, I'd probably be sleeping all day if I'm perfectly honest with myself, I know it's kind of a bad thing for careers to be sleeping a lot but it's not like I can help it, I'm tired for crying out loud! I have a lot of late nights either training or being out with my friends, and then I have to get up early to do more and more work. I just wish I could sleep for the whole day and then I'd be actually fully replenished. Honestly sometimes training is quite depressing, decapitating dummies, beating people up with a stick, humiliating each other to train. But the rewards are great, I have to volunteer this year we really need the money now, I'm going to do it for my family. I was going to wait until we're eighteen but I guess now would be the best time with my family issues and all. But I guess if I do win we'll be rich forever, we won't have to worry about the petty crap we need to worry about now!

I switch off my alarm clock and shower, getting all of the grime and sweat out of my neat blonde hair. Honestly bed hair is the absolute worst but there's nothing you can do about it, I considered cutting my hair short but I just prefer it long, it goes up to my shoulders and everything and it just looks one hundred times sexier than shorter hair! So when I've done this and gotten ready I need to pick out what outfit I'm going to wear. Now I need to be smart with what I chose, I want to scream 'dangerous but sexy'. That's the best angle to play, I want all my admirers to swoon and be breathless when they see the next victor of the Hunger Games. So after I've picked the best outfit I can find me, my mom, my dad and my twin sister Mione make our way to the town square.

We live quite far so we leave pretty early, me and my sister start talking on our way, away from our parents. "Mione, I-I'm going to volunteer today." I say to her, this takes her completely by surprise.

"W-why?" She asks.

"Mione you know our family needs the money, if I win then we'll have everything." I say.

"But if you lose we have nothing and we lose you!" She says. But there's not reasoning with me, I'm going into the games and that's that.

"Well, I think it's worth the risk, after all I've been training, I am the older one you know so if anyone should go it's me." I explain, she knows there's no fighting it, I'm a stubborn person. She hugs me tightly.

"Just be careful out there." She says.

"I will, I can take care of myself you know." I sigh. We get to the town square and we register with the other sixteen year old girls. As we stand in the crowd with our hands interlinked together and the propaganda film finishes I know I can have no regrets on that fact I'm going into the arena.

_I will win, no I must win._

"Now for the girls." She announces and picks a slip, she calls out a name but I don't even listen to who it is and raise my hand.

"I volunteer as tribute!" I announce, the whole square goes silent, I let go of Mione's hand and the peacekeeper's guide me to the stage. I see my mother and my father standing in the adult's section, clearly very shocked, my father's jaw is hanging and my mother is gripping him tightly, they just can't believe what I've done. "So what is your name dear?" She asks. I clench my jaw tight, my fists clenched at my side, the cool breeze blows my shiny blonde hair across my face as I give my reply. "My name is Zianna Cubic." I say bluntly, no energy in my voice, no nervousness and nothing is given away. _I'm doing this for you mom and dad._

**Mason Hammerfell, 17, D2M**

I stare at myself in the mirror, that deep scare running down my face, I admire my muscular figure. I'm in the simplest clothes that I could possibly wear for the reaping. A white shirt and black trousers, but this shirt shirt shoes off my muscles. So I decide to go with this one, today is the day I volunteer and I need to look good. So I leave the house with my family, we don't live far from the town square so we get there relatively quick, I register and stand with the other seventeen year old boys.

Our district's escort starts with the girls as always and when a name is drawn another girl instantly volunteers in her place, to be expected of course, we are district two after all. I sigh and a boy's name is drawn. "Marc Desoul!" And I don't hesitate, I have always been prepared for this, I don't hesitate because I am confident in myself. "I volunteer!" I announce and I step out of the crowd, the same stoic glare in my face as I step onto the stage. Our district escort doesn't even look surprised or intimidated by me. "So what's your name dear?" She asks, I scan the crowd, my glare sweeping over the crowd as I stare at my district watching me. "My name is Mason Hammerfell." I say and I shake hands with Zianna and we walk into the justice building together.

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**Credit: All Credit to Mason Hammerfell goes to a good lad called Cato74th. He designed this character and let me use him, all the credit goes to him. Thanks man!**


	3. District 3 reaping

**Michelle Nami, 18, D3F**

I groan as I drag myself out of the safety and warmth of my bed and into the cold and harsh outside world. I'm so cold and so tired, I feel like I'm dragging myself around because I just don't want to get up but I know I have to. It's reaping day and during reaping day everybody has to get up no matter who you are. I wish I could just stay in bed, I stayed up late last night (probably not a wise choice) because I just couldn't sleep but I'm definitely regretting that decision now. I need to shower and put on whatever clothes I can find, this year is my last year in the bowl and then I don't have to worry about going into the games, I didn't even have to take out tesserae this year so my odds are quite slim because I know a bunch of people took some out this year, the poor people, lucky for my my family is pretty well off so I didn't need to worry about things like that. I need to find clothes that compliment my look, I have olive skin, dark black hair , dark brown eyes and I'm quite tall, I think last time I checked I was 5'11.

Finally I make a decision and throw on some clothes and leave to go the reaping with my family. I'm the youngest in my family, we're all girls, I have two sisters but they're not reaping age anymore, all of them are in their twenties now, but soon I'll join them in that land of small freedom. Together we walk to the town square where the reaping will take place. I register with the other eighteen year old girls and the rest of my family goes to the adult section. "Good luck." My mother says to me and kisses my head and she goes to stand with the rest of the family. After I register and go stand with the eighteen year old girls the Capitol shows their propaganda video, I've heard it so many times before it's old now so I kind of tune it out. And then finally it's time to see who's going into the games this year. I'm actually quite anxious to see who it will be, someone I know? One of my friends? "Now for the girls,"

_Who will it be?_

"Michelle Nami!"

I hear my mother scream on the side and everyone else takes steps away from me, letting it known that it's me. My legs feel numb, almost like weak spaghetti and the Peacekeepers grab me by the arms and march me out, basically dragging me and I have to stand on stage. I feel like I'm going to collapse but my legs to anything but. _It's me._

**Borris Tango, 16, D3M**

I sit in the cold basement in the deep place in my house. My dark brown hair is messy and sticking out from all sides, thick glasses are covering my eyes, a long, white coat is what keeps me warm as I stare at the table with heaps of books and only a glass of water beside them, maths, science, engineering, pencils, rulers, pens, all sorts of things for school are scattered across my table as I madly look around. What time is it? How long have I been down here for? I don't even know, I can't even remember! I just remember coming down here for a long study session, if I needed to do anything important my mom would call me but since she isn't I can just carry on studying. I come out of here usually for doing other district stuff but mostly I just like to study in my basement, my skin has gone paler and paler because of it but honestly I don't care. I want to be inventing things, I'm going to need time and dedication. My blue eyes quickly scan my surroundings before taking a quick gulp of water. I then dive right back into the books.

_I better get to work, I have lots to do today._

I actually do have a lot I need to be doing. But then suddenly I hear the echoing of heavy footsteps and the loud and protesting creek of the door opening. "Yes mother?!" I ask quite irritably. I know my mother loves me and all but sometimes she just gets in the way of my work! It gets quite annoying after a while if I'm completely honest. "Borris, you do know the reaping is today right?" She asks, oh snap! The reaping! I forgot all about that! I forgot to take the reaping into account when I made my schedule! This throws a very big spanner in the plans for today. Oh crap! "You need to shower and put on some nice clothes, you can get back to doing your erm... work when you get back." She says. I give a hesitant nod and simply get up off my seat and begin walking up, out of the cold confines of my basement and back into the annoying outside world.

I shower and put on the best clothes I can find, a stripy shirt and black trousers (I tucked my shirt into the trousers) and I'm wearing a black tie as well. Black shoes to go with it to round up the appearance. Honestly I couldn't care less about my appearance, it's all about my work and my work alone. So with an annoyed growl I follow my mother out of the everlasting safety of my house and into the district were nearly everyone is walking to the town square for the reaping. It's annoying that there's so many people, I don't break off to go with my friends, I simply stay walking next to my mother, I don't have any friends, I'm just not one of those annoying social people. I mean socializing is pretty stupid if you ask me, all the time I could spend stuffing my brain with as much knowledge as possible is wasted talking to strangers and 'building relationships' with them. Such a stupid waste of time, I'm my own person with just one life and I don't want to waste it with other people.

"I'll see you soon mom." I say and I break away from her and register with the other sixteen year old boys who don't look nearly as terrified as the twelve year old kids. It's understandable, after all there are slim chances little twelve year old kids are reaped and they never win. And then our district escort makes it and shows us that stupid Capitol propaganda video. Actually now that I think back it's actually really smart they include this, it's so well made and it instills the power of the Capitol in our minds. And finally he starts to draw the names.

"Michelle Nami!" He announces and some girl I've never seen it dragged out onto the stage. I brush it off with an uninterested sigh. And now for the boys.

"Borris Tango!"

That's... that's me!

If I die all my hard work, gone, if I die all my knowledge will never be shared, if I'm gone it's all gone, all wasted!_ No, no no! _The intimidating Peacekeepers reach in and drag me up the stairs as well, dragging me to my death. _No, no, no!_

"And there we have it, District three's tributes!"

And with that I'm forced to shake Michelle's hand and taken into the justice building, away from my work, away from my research.

_It's all just ripped away so easily._


	4. District 4 reaping

**Sparrow Link, 12, D4F**

"Okay come again!" I say in a cheerful mood as our very satisfied costumer waves goodbye and leaves with his fishing gear. Yes my family sells stuff to the fishermen of our district, everyone loves my mother and father who runs it and I sometimes help because it's so fun. My dad says I have that natural way of selling things, I'm cute, polite and just have a good way of persuading people to buy our stuff. It's a very successful business that everyone needs because they need their fishing stuff after all. So as a result we live a pretty easy and wealthy life style. "Sparrow it's time to close the shop, get ready and then we can go to the reaping!" My dad calls out. I check the time and I know he's right, whoever else will just have to wait until tomorrow to get their fishing stuff because the last time we were late we didn't get whipped but we got fined a lot of money so business was slow for a bit but now it's back in full swing. I switch the big green 'open' sign to the big red 'closed' sign so people know and I go and change clothes (I already showered).

I look at myself in the mirror as I start looking at what I should wear. I have long blonde hair that goes up to my shoulders, I'm only 5'4 so quite short, but I'm only twelve! I have olive toned skin, blue eyes as well, I have that typical district four look, sea blue eyes. A lot of people in this district have eyes like that, but hey that's why we're the fishing district right? I throw on a bright white dress that I got yesterday, it's the nicest dress I have so I figured I should. This is my first reaping, my first reaping ever and I'm so nervous, I feel like I'm going to be sick. But even if my name is drawn someone will volunteer for me right? But people don't always volunteer in this district, not like in District one and two, sometimes people go in who aren't even careers from this district. Maybe my sister would volunteer for me? She's a career and she's sixteen years old.

Finally I finish getting ready and the four of us leave the house and walk to the town square, my sister is trying to assure me that I won't be going into the games. "Your name is only in there once and I'm sure there are people around who'd love to volunteer in place of you anyway, and that's me included." She says to me, she's trying her best to reassure me and I appreciate the effort she puts a comforting arm around me. "Don't worry, you'll be fine." She says to me in a confident voice, smiling at me. I smile back, gosh I love my sister, she's so cool, she always seems to put me first, at school she always backs me up when someone wants to bully me, I wish I could be more like her. "Thanks Olivia." I say.

We get to the town square and I register with the twelve year old girls, the finger pricking hurts! And then we stand in line and our district escort shows up the propaganda film and I'm just left there, thinking. "Now for the girls!" He announces, oh I must have been so deep in thought I missed some of it. I see him reach into the girl's bowl, he wriggles his fingers and moves his hand around, just to add to the suspense. And then pulls out a slip. "Sparrow Link!"

Suddenly I feel a lump in my throat, my heart rate accelerates faster than a speed boat as I wait for a volunteer, but nothing happens. And then I step out of the crowd, walking slow on purpose, waiting, just waiting for someone, someone I don't know to volunteer! _Why won't anyone volunteer?!_ I continue walking until I'm up on stage, and then I hear it. "I volunteer!" My eyes instantly dart towards the sixteen year old girls section and I see my sister, not in the crowd but already standing out. Has she come to save me? _She's really going to die for me?_

As she walks up to stage I can only think. _Once again I have to rely on her to do everything for me, to save me all the time. But not this time!__  
_

"No! I reject!" I shout and this shocks everyone into gasping, even my sister falters and stops walking. "You can't volunteer for me Olivia, I'm sorry." I say, my voice cracking, I'm such a fool, letting my own personal pride stop her from saving me. _But I need to stand on my own two feet now._ The Peacekeepers guide her back to the sixteen year old girls section and I can feel tears rolling down my cheeks. _What have I done?_

**Cedric Avery, 15, D4M**

I wake up with a large grin on my face, reaping day. _The beginning._ For my age I'm quite stocky, after all career training for seven years does do something to you right? I start my day by lifting some weights in order to wake me up a bit. After this I figure I should shower because it's the reaping, I don't want to smell bad on reaping day! So after showering I need to choose what clothes I need to wear. My short light brown hair mostly has gel in it and swept to the side so I do that first, and then I decide to get some decent clothes, I'm not exactly the richest but I'm not poor, not all my clothes are 'top quality' unfortunately but I at least can find something nice to wear right?

After dressing up I find no one's home, they're probably working then, if that's the case I need to walk to the reaping by myself and I meet them there, but I'll be volunteering this year. I know I'm quite young but I've seen kids younger than me win, some of them aren't even careers and they still win! So I get to the reaping and register with the other fifteen year old boys and stand in the crowd, I tune out everything that happens next because I don't care about that stupid video or that district escort's speech, I only care about the names being drawn because why would I care about anything else? I came here to see the names get drawn not to watch a video and listen to some Capitol prick give a speech. So he picks a name from the girls bowl and reads out the name with no hesitation. "Sparrow Link!"

I'm quite surprised when there's no volunteer, usually someone would volunteer straight away, maybe it's some intimidating career girl who everyone is afraid of? Maybe it's a rich girl who no one likes? And then I see who it is, and I feel my heart drop, some little skinny twelve year old. Why is she even here?! And then when she takes the stage someone volunteers, some big wait! But as the girl walks towards the stage to take her place Sparrow says "No! I reject!" What the hell? Is she crazy? A strong career who actually wants to bring pride to the district volunteers and she says no? The nerve of some people! District four never has tribute die in the bloodbath but I bet she's going to break that tradition! She doesn't even look like a fucking career! Why didn't she let her friend or sister go? I just feel like ranting and at Sparrow but then I need to calm down because I can see our escort about to draw the names from the boys bowl.

"Christopher Relic!"

With no hesitation my hand shoots up and I yell at the top of my lungs, "I volunteer!" There's silence as walk out and step onto the stage, I grin and the district escort hands me the microphone. "My name's Cedric Avery." I announce through the microphone.

"And there we have it, District four's tributes!" Our escort announces. As I turn to shake Sparrow's hand I scowl at her stupidity and make sure to squeeze her hand extra tight, it's a warning that screams on clear message; _You're going to die you know._


	5. District 5 reaping

**Gemma Lint, 17, D5F**

I'm sitting in a small corner of my room, sitting with my knees hugging my chest and leaning against the wall. My blonde hair is in a mess, frayed, wet and all over the place. It's long, up to the top of my back but that's it. My blue eyes are empty and hollowed and my skin is white as chalk, I've been refusing food so I'm very skinny, I lick my lips and stay into the corner, the safest place for me is the corner where no one can attack me from behind at least, I'm scared. I'm in my white patient uniform, white overalls and that's it, we're not allowed any sharp objects the mental hospital, we're not allowed shoelaces either, basically anything that can hurt us. I'm all by myself and I'm afraid, I'm just staring at the door, someone might burst in and attack me. I've been in this stupid mental hospital for two years now, they said I had some kind of paranoia disorder with my mind. But they think I'm crazy but it's true! People are out to get me! I was sent here after I nearly killed one of my classmates with a pen, he touched my back! What if he was going to pull a knife on me? He's always rude to me, so I grabbed his hand and tried to stab him in the face with a pen, but the teachers stopped me, long story short now I'm here.

Suddenly the door opens and I feel my heartbeat quickening and then I see light. "Gemma, it's the reaping and you know we all have to go." One of the guards state blankly, I sigh and slowly get up, they make us go to the reaping still even though people from here are basically never picked. I walk in a line of patients, there aren't too many, only about twenty or so because we don't get many 'crazy' people in district five. We're flanked by armed guards, guards with small pistols, I guess the Capitol gives them their pistols because the crazies can't be roaming around district five free can they? But those pistols... I don't trust them, the guards are going to shoot me dead, I can feel it, I know it. They're going to blow my brains out! They're going to blow my brains out! My heart rate is quickening and I'm afraid, thankfully we get to the town square quick.

I register and stand with the seventeen year old girls. They know to stay away from me because of the white overalls and they instantly start trying to get as much distance away from me and possible in this tight crowded space. Honestly I don't care, I'll just go back and be locked in that hospital again and then next year is my last year. Our district escort shows us the propaganda film the Capitol always likes to show and then when it finishes she then starts picking a name. "As always, ladies first!" She announces in her little posh Capitol accent. She reaches into the girls bowl and picks out a name. "Gemma Lint!"

"HA!" I accidently shout it. It just sort of slips out what I say. Everyone turns to face me like I'm a truly crazy person, I just singled myself out as being Gemma Lint and I slowly step out from the crowd, everyone moves and makes way for me, they make way for their tribute to get through. The peacekeepers guide me to the stage and I'm just standing there. _I knew it, I knew they were all to get me, everyone in this world is out for my blood._

**Johan Stattic, 16, D5M**

I'm in the market looking for meat to buy and take home to my family. I have quite a big family, two older brothers and two younger sisters. So I'm the middle child, it's quite annoying really, I'm sort of overlooked by my parents, it's kind of annoying. My mother sent me to go and get some meat to bring home, I had to take out a bunch of tesserae because I'm the middle child so we should be set for now but it's the meat we need so with our money I have to go. There aren't that many people in the market, it's reaping day today, the worst day of the year and the people who are in the market are in pretty low spirits, why wouldn't they be? Two kids are about to be sent to die , our district rarely ever actually wins the games, we haven't had a victor in over fifteen years, that's a pretty long time. And I doubt that streak is going to be broken any time soon. I go to the stall were the meat is being sold and take out the money from my pouch. "Erm I'd just like to buy that please." I say and I point to the dead chicken that's hanging from it's feet. The old lady takes the chicken and hands it to me, I then hand her the money. "Thanks." I say half halfheartedly, turn and walk away.

I'm left walking down the road all by myself, most people are getting ready right now but not me, I had to wake up really early in order to get this stuff while the rest of my older and younger siblings got to sleep in! It's so fucking unfair! I get back to my house and open the door with my keys, after hastily walking in I put the hunk of meat on the kitchen table. "Got the chicken." I call out and collapse on the couch, my older broth Jonathan sits next to me. "You alright Johan" He asks, I simply nod my head. It's kind of funny, a lot of people think me and Jonathan are twins because we look a lot like each other, we both have black hair that's swept to the left, both Caucasian, light skinned and both quite skinny. I guess the only difference is that he's a few inches taller and has a much deeper voice than me, he's eighteen and I'm sixteen. "Anyway we should go, we're leaving in like two minutes." He says and gets up off his seat, I roll my eyes and get up after him. Honestly I like Jonathan the best out of all my brothers and sisters, he's the nicest and coolest.

My whole over sized family all walk in a group, me and Jonathan split off from the group and just start talking, we talk all the way from the house to the district square and then it's time to register, we all split up. I register and stand with the other sixteen year old boys, my hands buried in my pockets and I'm looking up at our district's escort as she goes into a speech and then shows us that same video that's shown to us every year. "As always ladies first!" She announces and then turns to the girl's bowl. She slowly reaches into the bowl and picks out a name. "Gemma Lint." Some girl I don't know steps up and she's wearing those white overalls. She's one of those crazy people from the mental asylum. She looks like a mess, hair messy, skin pale, she obviously hasn't been taking care of herself. "Now for the boys!" She announces and reaches into the boys bowl.

"Johan Stattic!"

And suddenly I feel the world losing color around me. The whole world seems to drain itself of color and it replaced by nothing but grayness, and then the people seem to start to disappear, leaving just me and the stage. I can't even move or talk, suddenly a huge peacekeeper grabs me by the arm and drags me out of the crowd and towards the stage like a parents dragging their little kid around the market. I look around, no one volunteers for me, not even Jonathan would volunteer for me. _I guess you see how far families are loyal to each other at the reaping I guess._ I then take a deep breath and try to compose my jelly like limbs. And then I'm made to shake hands with Gemma and we both walk into the justice building together.


	6. District 6 reaping

**Lori Ariza, 14, D6F**

I'm sitting on a hard wooden chair, in a small but poor house. I'm sitting at a table, wolfing down a loaf of bread someone gave to me. I live in one of the poorest areas in district six, I barely get any food, only getting some scraps of bread and meat maybe twice a day. I was just really unlucky to end up living in this specific area of district six because it sucks here but there's nothing I can do about it is there? My mom is single and has to work as a mechanic, I rarely ever see here these days because she's always having to work in order to get some scraps of money and income. So now here I am, my skinny arms and rough hands are shoving the pieces of bread into my mouth and down my throat, I'm all by myself at the moment, I have to walk to the reaping soon, I'll probably be going by myself as usual. My mom made me take out two tesserae's because we really need it like most people who live in this specific are of district six. I finish the bread way too soon, sooner than I would have liked.

I get up off the table and take a look at myself in the bathroom mirror. Poverty is etched across my appearance, my arms are almost like white twigs, long and really skinny, my hand fingers are skinny and bony. I'm quite tall for my age, 5'9 so I stick out like a sore thumb compared to a lot of the other girls that live here. I have dark grey eyes like a lot of people who live around here, people make jokes that we're secretly from district twelve because of those grey eyes. I have very light black colored hair. So I'm like any other girl who lives in this area of district six if you think about it, poverty is what all of us have known our entire lives. Suddenly a large bell rings, it calls for everyone in the district to attend the reaping, cos our district is really big we have a bell to make sure everyone attends. Honestly even though I've taken tesserae I'm not that worried about my chances, my name's only in there five times, that's not that much considering some of the other older people from district six who have like ten people in their families.

I throw on some clothes and then begin to walk, I don't walk by myself, in a crowd of people walking. We walk for about twenty minutes when we finally get there, I see my mom already in the adults section, I wave but she doesn't notice me. So with a sigh I register and stand with the other fourteen year old girls. Our District escort goes on stage and plays the propaganda video that is shown every year about how the districts were wrong with rebelling twice and how everything we get is blamed on our ancestors. After that he decides it's time to draw the names. I wait, I simply stare in anticipation of who it is going to be. I've seen the same thing happen for fourteen years, name is drawn, kid goes up. He rips a slip from the bowl and reads it out loudly for the whole of Panem to hear.

"Lori Ariza!"

And then for a few seconds there's silence, nothing but the cold sound of silence. It's silent because I know who it is, _it's me._ I can't say I expected this because that would be a big fat lie. Slowly but surely I step out of the crowd and walk, I walk to my death, like as slow as a turtle my legs carry my forwards. "Hurry up love we haven't got all day!" Our escort shouts through the microphone. My legs betray me and I stumble and I collapse onto my knees but almost instantly two peacekeeper's grab me by under my arm pits and drag my skinny body to the stage. "Finally!" He groans.

"And now for the boys." He announces cheerfully.

**Raidan Bisalt, 15, D6M**

I'm sitting in a large tree on a large branch that easily takes my weight. It's an old apple tree that people sometimes pick from because the apples are delicious, but I'm not here to pick apples. I swear people only see trees are good for food but they're good for so much more, they are good for so much more. You'd think in a place where there isn't that much nature people would be more appreciative of things such as trees but not apparently, people are so fixated with their own lives they forget about the world around them; the simply things such as trees are taken for granted because all everyone cares about is making sure their own lives are as decent as possible. But not me, I'm not one of those people, this is one of the only healthy trees in this district and I don't take it for granted, I'm sitting in the tree now, just thinking and thinking. I know it's the reaping today, one of the worst days of the year. My name's only in there three times, I have to take no tesserae because I live quite a decent life. My parents own a shop, we live in the richer area of district 6 so we do alright, I didn't need to take any tesserae and I'll never need to take any tesserae.

When I'm not reaping age anymore and I get older I'll be more involved in the shop but for now I'm still just a kid. Honestly I feel small compared to some people I know, I'm quite short, I think during my last physical I was 5'6. I have brown hair that's medium length and is in a right side sweep, I'm quite small for my age, I'm not skinny but I'm not exactly 'muscular' either, I guess that's why I can climb things so easily, I love climbing and because I'm so light it makes it easier, I think if I was allowed I could start free running, jumping across buildings and things. I told my family I'd meet them at the reaping, I have a younger brother who's twelve, his first year in the bowl, I'm not exactly worried for him, his name's Cain and to be honest he's quite the wimp; just yesterday I was making jokes about how he actually has ten entries in the bowl and he started crying, my parents both saw that I was only joking so they let it go.

When the bell rings I slowly climb down the tree and begin walking, I live quite close to the town square so I'm there in about five minutes. Luckily I spot Cain, he looks like he's about to vomit everywhere. "Cain!" I yell out and pull him into a quick hug, I look into his small worried face and I feel sort of sorry for him, honestly when I was twelve I wasn't this nervous, I knew I wouldn't be picked. "It's okay Cain, you won't get picked, you're only twelve with no tesserae." I say to reassure him and hug him again. "I'll see you soon." I say confidently and walk over to register, they prick my finger and send me to stand with the other fifteen year old boys. After everyone is silent and the district escort walks onto the stage and begins his speech. After he finishes and shows us the propaganda video. "Now it is time to select our male and female tribute to represent district six in this years Hunger Games!" She announces with glee.

He reaches into the girl's bowl and picks out a slip. "Lori Ariza!"

And then some skinny girl slowly walks out, obviously delaying, maybe hoping a volunteer will step up in her place? But then the district escort tells her to hurry up and she collapses onto her knees, the pressure clearly getting to her, two peacekeepers then grab her and literally drag her up to the stage so she can picks the boys. "And now for the boys." She slowly reaches in, wriggles her fingers and takes out a slip and she clears her throat and reads out the name of the unlucky guy there. I'm looking at Cain the whole time.

"Raidan Bisalt!"

Oh good it's not Cain. But then I see his face look at me and twist with horror and I'm slightly confused. And then I realize, I realize why he's so horrified even though his name wasn't picked. _My name was picked! _I slowly walk out, guided by two peacekeepers in case I fall to the ground like Lori did. One thought it racing through my mind as I take the stage.

_I have to win. I have to win. I have to win._

"And here are our tributes for district six!"

Me and Ariza shake hands and then together we walk into the justice building, never to see home again.


	7. District 7 reaping

**Fiona Lyte, 16, D7F**

"Keep cutting that wood guys! Hurry up! Hurry up! I know you can cut faster than that!" The Peacekeeper screams, he has his whip in his hand in case he catches any of us slacking. The hot sun beats down on my back, making me sweaty and and my blonde hair wet. The sweat runs down my skin as if it's blood from a fresh wound as I continuously swing my axe in order to hack down this large tree trunk that just refuses to go down! I'm grunting as I swing my axe over and over again with as much force as my screaming arms can muster. I stop to wipe from sweat off my brow and to drink my bottle of water when suddenly I feel a quick but searing pain across my back. "Arghh!" I scream as I collapse on my knee and turn around to see the boss brandishing his whip. "Hurry up slacker! What do you think the Capitol will say when they see us slacking! Move your ass!" He screams and I swing my axe more, when he turns his back I flip him the finger and get back to work.

After about another thirty minutes we're finally dismissed. "Alright go take showers and get your lazy asses to the reaping!" He announces in his drill sergeant manner and I drop my axe and begin walking slowly, I'll definitely need to bath, we can't afford a shower like some people, when I get home. I gulp down my bottle of water like an animal, honestly how could someone expect me not to finish this bottle of water? I'd been working for three hours straight hacking down trees. My blonde hair is now drenched with sweat and so are my clothes. My sky blue eyes stare at the ground at my small feet. From all the axe chopping I can't exactly say I'm 'muscular' but my upper body strength is certainly better than a lot of the skinny people who see wading around the district. I'm medium size standing at 5'8 and have tanned skin from always being out in the sun constantly.

"Hey beautiful." I hear and I instantly spin around to see Dominic! I smile as he pulls me close, despite my sweat and kisses me on the lips.

"So how have you been?" I ask, staring up at his dark brown eyes and put my hands on his waist.

"I've been fine, just going to get home and go to the reaping, I'll meet up with you after that." He answers and I nod, clearly happy with that idea. We're like each other's world, Dominic is like the opposite of me in terms of appearance. He's tall, I think about 6'2 and he's very strongly build, he mostly likes to wear clothes that let his muscles show slightly. He's only a year older than me and he's growing a short stubble. He has dark brown eyes and short black hair. "Okay I have to go now but I'll definitely be seeing you." I say as I pull away from him and get to my house.

After a quick bath and change of clothes my mother and father take me to the reaping. When we get to the district's square we find we're actually almost late and I hastily register and stand with the other sixteen year old girls. And then the district escort appears, dressed in the usual fancy shining clothes that everyone seems to wear, he then shows us the propaganda video that I've been watching every year for sixteen years. When the stupid video finally finishes he announces, "now to pick our female tribute from district seven!" My heart's thumping, all the teserae I bought for my family, we just needed to survive. _Does survival seriously have to come at a cost nowadays? _He reaches in and without hesitation picks a slip from the bowl and reads out the name. "Fiona Lyte!"

And that's when I feel the world begin to explode around me, as if my entire safe world, piece by piece is being torn apart by fire. _No way, it can't be me, how can it be me? _But I know why and anyone who knows me knows why I was the one picked, the tesserae, that's the answer to it all. So with a heavy sigh I step out of the crowd and begin to walk towards the stage, I can't run, I can't hide. _I can only fight._ When the peacekeepers come to try and grab me I shove them away. "Don't you dare try to touch me!" I snarl and continue walking up to the stage. The escort looks at me wearily. "And now for the boys." He says rather uninterested and reaches in to take the slip.

**Dominic Roscow, 17, D7M**

After meeting up with Fiona I walk to my house in high spirits despite the fact that it's reaping day. I get to meet up with here again after the reaping! Oh what a fun meeting it will be, we've been together for a year now, a whole year, that's a long time if you ask me. I stick my hands in my dirty jeans (I've been working all day) and walk towards my home while whistling an upbeat tune. People look at me like I'm a weirdo, after all who would be whistling a merry tune on reaping day? But as selfish as it sounds I honestly couldn't care less who is picked, it's not like they'll be of any importance to me is it? I mean sure I should be sad when I see people from our district die but I'm just not. Honestly good riddance if you think about it, it just means they weren't strong enough to live anyway in my opinion. In this world only the strong survive and if they died then they just weren't fit to survive, I just take that attitude towards the reaping and the games in general. That's why I'm never sad when one of our tributes die.

I'm still whistling my merry tune all the way back to my house. "Dominic!" My little brother shouts in in glee, he quickly runs towards me and wraps his little arms around me waist and I hug my hands on his back. "Hey Pine, how you doing?" I ask with a grin, he's only eleven so next year will be his first year so he doesn't need to worry about that. Pine is such a nice kid, he looks a lot like me really minus the strong build. "I'm just gonna go shower then we'll be on our way to the reaping okay?" I say with a smile, he smiles and nods and I let go of him.

"Tell mom I'm home!" I shout and quickly run to our bathroom.

After showering I threw on some random clothes I could find and ran out to meet my family. It's just the four of us, me, mom, dad and Pine. We're a pretty normal district seven family, all of us work, we struggle sometimes but we always get through. So the four of us leave our small house and we're on our way to the town square for the reaping. "Good luck Dominic." My father says and pulls me into a quick hug and my mother kisses my forehead and the three of them go to were the non-reapable people stay. I register and stand with the other seventeen year old boys, I have a natural expression on my face and my hands are stuffed in my pockets as the propaganda film shows and our escort then says it's time to big tributes. Now's that moment, tributes to be picked again, I hope it's no one I know or are close to.

"Fiona Lyte!"

My eyes widen in horror and I feel like collapsing to the floor and sobbing, no, no way. Not Fiona, _not my Fiona!_ I lip starts to quiver and my fists are clenched in my trousers and I want to scream, no! It can't be her, anyone but her! Why is the world so cruel? Why did it have to be here? I want to call out her name, I want to beg them not to take her. Fiona puts on a brave face and marches up to the stage, not even wanting help from the peacekeepers. And then he reaches into the other bowl and picks out a name.

"Dominic Roscow."

And that's when I feel my world begin to crumble around me.

That simply sentence is what makes me fold completely.

_My own name makes me want to drop dead._

"Bastard!" I blurt out in pure rage, shove people around me as I get out of that crowd and begin to walk up to that stage. My fists are clenched at me sides and my veins are showing, my muscles are tensed as I still feel my world crumbling around me, with just two simple names my world is crumbling. And that world crumbling is making me angry.

I stand up on the stage next to Fiona. "And those are our tributes for district seven!" Our escort announces rather uninterested. _Does he not know what he's done?_

When asked to shake hands me and Fiona don't shake hands, no we embrace. And together we walk into the justice building, letting her hand interlock with mine. When I see her all I see is a brave face that doesn't want to die.

But on that brave face I see tears.


	8. District 8 reaping

**Jamee Holcombe, 17, D8F**

I sit on the very comfortable leather couch that stands in a large living room, the curtains are closed so barely any sunlight can get inside. Our living room is quite large and comfortable, a large fire place to keep us warm, sofas and chairs, well I guess you could say this house is more like a mansion. It was quite tough trying to adjust to life in the victor's village three years ago. Three years ago my older brother one the eighty-seventh Hunger Games, he was seventeen years old (he's twenty years old now) and now our whole family lives with him in the victor's village. But he was never quite the same when he came out, he used to be so open and we used to be really close but now it's not the same, he's more quiet, more reserved and he doesn't exactly speak a lot anymore. We're still quite close but he's not the same, for a few months he was afraid to sleep by himself, he still gets the nightmares some times but at least I don't have to sleep with him like a baby.

I don't resent my brother, no I would never do that but ever since he won the games I've just felt overshadowed. I was always second best behind my brother and now everyone just pays attention to him, and I've sort of become nothing. When people think of me or refer to me they refer to me as 'Peter Holcombe's little sister'. All people do is pay attention to my second name and it infuriates me, I'm more than just 'Peter's sister'. I'm more than just a Holcombe, I'm Jamee Holcombe not just Holcombe. I mean yes I'm happy my brother is still alive, yes I'm happy he's won because it means we can still be together, I don't regret that he won at all but I just wish someone would see me and me, not just 'Peter's sister'. Whenever camera's come I have to act like the dumb sister who is proud of her brother, people don't understand how frustrating it is.

I've already gotten ready for the reaping, I got ready hours ago I'm just waiting for the rest of my family. Suddenly Peter walks in through the doorway, he's dressed in some really good clothes. "I'm going to have to mentor again." He says with a yawn as he collapses next to me. His brown hair is groomed and gelled back, he's older and taller than me, I only stand at 5'9 while he stands at 6'3. He has a strong, stocky build while I have quite the skinny build. We both have the same color eyes, dark brown and same skin tone, Caucasian with a bit of tan but he's gotten paler, he spends a lot of his time indoors now, either using the new weight set he bought or just staying in his room, but most of the time he uses his weight set in his room and me or my mother or my father being his food up to him, me on the other hand spend most of my days outdoors with my friends or at school, I don't need to work anymore after all. I have brown hair that's quite long now, it goes up to my shoulders but I mostly keep it tied back.

Suddenly my parents both come down stairs, they've come to say goodbye to Peter because he's going to be mentoring these games, I can't imagine how stressful mentoring can be for him. He leaves the house and a few hours later we leave the house, I stick my hands in my pockets and continue walking until we get there, I register and stand with the other seventeen year old girls and our district escort takes the stage. He shows us that propaganda video, after it's done he announces that it's time to select district eight's tributes. He slowly reaches into the girl's bowl and picks out a slip, my heart is thudding, beating, this person's life is almost effectively in my brother's hands.

"Jamee Holcombe"

I feel like my heart just stopped and I suddenly hear a cry. "NOOOOOOO!" And I turn to see my mother breakdown and sob into my father's shoulder as he desperately tries to comfort her. I bite my lip and slowly begin walking. But I don't feel scared, I don't know why I'm not sobbing or crying, is this what Peter felt? All the attention is on me, all the attention Peter got when he was reaped. People know my name. _That's right, my name is Jamee, Jamee Holcombe._ I shove down the feeling of adrenaline in my chest and take the stage. _So is this what Peter felt?_

All the attention is on me. I am no longer 'Peter's little sister'.

_I am Jamee Holcombe, tribute of the ninetieth Hunger Games._

**Jay Stark, 18, D8M**

I'm sitting in a grass field, a cap covering my eyes from the sunlight and a toothpick in my mouth. Here I am, just relaxing , my eyes are hidden from the outside world. I'm leaning against a tree, it's my favorite resting spot, resting on this tree, I could fall asleep here all day long if it wasn't for the reaping. I'm grinning to myself as I look around this empty field, I don't even know what time it is. _Yes I do, it's time to just relax and chill. _Work? Why would I need to work? My little brother Devante can do that for me, he does most of the work anyway, he does work for this gang and they pay him, I don't know what the work is and honestly I don't really care, as long as he doesn't get himself hurt then that's fine by me, just means less work for me right? I don't have a job, nor to I earn money, at home I just eat and sleep, sometimes I go to girl's houses because let's face it, you only get one shot at life so why waste it working? I have two little brother's one has just turned twelve, it's his first time in the reaping bowl and the Devante is fifteen. I told Devante to run here and call me when we start to leave. We all live with our parents and they work in the textiles factory like losers.

I'm quite lanky and I'm tall, standing at 6'0. I have jet black hair that's quite curly and rises up to the air, and dark brown eyes. I'm also getting some facial hair, some visible facial hair, and hair on a lot of places on my body, after all I'm eighteen technically an adult. I just could never be bothered to shave and honestly what's wrong with facial hair? If it's not broke then don't fix it.

Suddenly I hear rapid footsteps and I know it's probably Devante. "Jay, it's time to go." He says to me, clearly out of breath. I sigh and give him my hat to hold and spit out my toothpick. "Alright then let's go." I say rather nonchalantly and we both begin walking side by side. We're going to meet up with the rest of the family as the square and regroup at the house after the reaping. "So Devante, how was 'work' yesterday?" I ask, he actually looks tired, did they have him up till late or something? "Same old, same old, it's not that bad really, I've been doing it for three years you know and the money is pretty good." He says, I ruffle his hair with a smile. "Well I guess that's true." I say and then we finally get to the town square. I register and stand with the other eighteen year old boys, today is my last day in the stupid bowl and good riddance, dying on television is not what I had planned in my life.

Our district escort steps up and shows us that propaganda video and then announces it's time to select the poor tributes. I just hope it's no one in my family or anyone I know.

"Jamee Holcombe."

_I know that name._ I know the name Holcombe but I just can't quite put my finger on who Jamee is, and then it hits me. She's probably related to Peter Holcombe, he won the games three years earlier so that must be a relative, and she takes the stage calmly, I can't tell what she's feeling from so far away. I can't see her face properly.

"And now for the boys." He says and reaches into the boys bowl and picks out a slip.

"Devante Stark!"

And suddenly my hearts seems to skip a beat and my uninterested face knits itself into a tight scowl. Devante, my brother, my little brother who works so hard for the family is going to die.

_But not if I can help it._

But I never want to go into the games, no one does, I'd probably die, I know it. But so would Devante. Dying on television was not how I pictured my life ending. But if Devante dies then who will bring in the money? Just our parents together won't possibly support us. But dying in the games is not how I pictured my life ending.

_But plans change._

I see Devante step out of the crowd, ready to walk to the stage. He's ready to walk to his death.

_Ah, fuck it!_

"I volunteer!" I announce, raising my hand and stepping out of the crowd. Devante gasps and look at me and I look at him back. I grin at him and nod as the peacekeepers guide me to the stage and I step up. A less useful life ending so a more useful life can live on. "So what's your name?" He asks me.

"Jay, Jay Stark, and I volunteered for my brother." I say coldly.

I shake hands with Jamee and together we walk into the justice building. And then we'll be walking to hour deaths.


	9. District 9 reaping

**Aksha Kayne, 18, D9F**

I remember when I was younger and life was simpler, my name wasn't in the bowl, I didn't need to worry about being reaped or anything, I could just stay at home, the only thing I needed to worry about when my next meal was coming. I guess soon I'll not need to worry about all of that, my last year in the reaping bowl before I'm free, I can continue working out on the fields with my mother and father and that will be that, I've got no siblings to worry about going into the games, I just have me and me alone to worry about and I prefer it that way; looking after other people just makes you forget about yourself and if there's no one you should forget about it's yourself. I walk down the stairs in my reaping clothes to find my mother... knitting, why is she knitting at this point in time when we need to go to the reaping? All she does it knit whenever she has free time, she claims it's her favourite hobby. She looks so fixated in her knitting, she's concentrating really hard.

"Erm mom?" I say, making my presence known.

She instantly snaps her head towards me to see me in all my glory. "You do realize we should be going to the reaping now right?" I ask. She smiles and nods her head and puts down the scarf(?) she appears to be knitting. People say I look so much like my mother, we're the exact same height now both of us standing at 5'9, we both have short brown hair that's almost boyish and we both have sky blue eyes. At school people used to make fun of me because I have next to no curves at all, and I'm just really skinny, no meat on my bones, despite me punching them in the face they still continued to do it, people never learn their lesson! That's another thing I'll never miss after this year, school! Oh the joys of turning eighteen! My father's going to be working for a while so we'll have to meet him at the reaping, it's a shame really, we don't see him much, he puts in the most hours at work but after I leave school I'll be working just as much as him. Together me and my mother walk out of the door and to the reaping square.

I register and stand with the other eighteen year old girls and then it's time to pick the names. "Ladies first!" Our escort announces gleefully. She slowly reaches into the girl's bowl. _I hope it's someone I hate, I hope they die a long and painful death so I can laugh at them. They'll deserve it!_

"Aksha Kayne!"

No, how?

I stand deathly still, it's so quiet in the square you can hear a pin drop. Suddenly a screwed up ball of paper hits the top of my head and I hear, "go up there Aksha you coward!" A few girls and boys in the crowd snicker and suddenly two peacekeepers grab me and force march me to the stage and I'm forced to stand next to our district escort. _I can't believe it, why me?_ I'm biting my lip and clenching my fists at my side. _I'll show them, I'll show them all._

"And now for the boys!"

**Kris Cecil, 17, D9M**

"You idiot Kris! Why would you do that?!" My brother shouts at me and he slaps me around the back of the head, not hard but hard enough to prove a point. I shrug my shoulders, I don't really know why I did it if I'm perfectly honest, I just thought it would be taken as a joke. You see I was playing with fire in the forest and just happened to set a tree on fire by accident, luckily my brother (who's nineteen) managed up quickly put the fire out before it spread. We're walking back home now and he's pissed, I've never seen him so pissed off before to be honest. In my whole life of living with him I've never seen him so angry. "I was just playing, it was an accident I swear." I explain, trying to justify myself but I'm not helping my case at all. It was an accident honest, I would never endanger so many lives like that. Usually I'm never like this, I don't enjoy death and all that kind of stuff, why would I enjoy death? I guess this is why I'm sickened by the games, people dying, death just makes me feel queasy, the very sight of death makes me want to be sick. I stick my hands in my pocket, looking at the ground in shame. "I'm sorry man, I really am." I say.

I guess he's satisfied by my apology because his angry expression softens it self and he pulls me into a playful and loose headlock. "It's okay, just be more careful next time, you could have died and if you die who am I gonna take care of huh?" He asks me playfully as he releases me and gives me a quick bro hug. I chuckle slightly. It's just me and my brother, we ran away from our parents the moment he turned eighteen, they were shit parents to be honest, who would bring us food everyday? Him. Who would take care of me when I was feeling unwell? Him. So he got his own house and now we live together but he takes care of me more than I take care of him, I guess that's just the older brother mindset he has. We're both really close, a lot of people make the mistake that we're twins. We look so much alike. I have a strong jawline and dirty short blonde hair and he had the same, he's growing a short stubble on his face but I'm not. We both have light blue eyes and we're both 5'10. He's build more strongly though, he has more muscle than me, he's quite stocky while I'm pretty skinny.

When we finally get to the center I register and stand with the other seventeen year old boys. After waiting and watching that stupid propaganda video our escort finally decides to draw out the names, as always starting with the girls.

"Aksha Kayne!"

After a few moment of silence someone shouts out. "Get up there Aksha you coward!" A few people snicker and it disgusts me, it sickens me how someone could be laughing at someone who's literally being made to walk into their death. This district is sickening sometimes! No this _world_ sickens me sometimes. And then the peacekeepers force march the girl onto the stage. "And now for the boys!" She reached into the boy's bowl and reaches in and pulls out the slip.

"Kris Cecil!"

No, no, no, no!

I can't go in there! They can't make me go in there. I immediately push past the crowd and try to run away but the peacekeepers grab me, two huge peacekeepers and I'm screaming my lungs out as they lift me up and I'm kicking and screaming. "NO! NO YOU CAN'T TAKE ME! DON'T MAKE ME GO! NOO!" I can feel the tears drizzling down my eyes and dropping to the floor at this point. And I'm thrown on the stage, I we can't even shake hands, the peacekeepers just escort the Aksha and my kicking and screaming figure right into the justice building.


	10. District 10 reaping

**Warning: This chapter contains child abuse.**

* * *

**Amabel Greyson, 16, D10F**

"You are such a stupid girl! Why were you even born?!"

**Smack!**

The backhanded slap connects with the side of my cheek cleanly and I'm sent stumbling into the wall, my back hitting the brick wall with a thud. They hurt me again, they hurt me again. _I'll show them, I'll show both of them._ However as I try to get up I feel a strong boot plant itself in my ribs and I feel the wind knocked out of me as I collapse back onto the floor, coughing and gasping for air. I'm shaking and starring both of my 'parents' in the face, I refuse to let them break me, I'll never let them break me! "Next time do what your told first time!" My father snarls and stomps on my stomach, winding me and sending tears spiraling out of my eyes and then the two monsters standing before me walk away, they're not parents, they're monsters, bad evil monsters that need to be slew. I'll slay them, the both of them and when I do my happy ending will come true right? I drag myself up, the reaping, after the reaping is when I'll do it _after the reaping is when my happy ending will come true and I'll be free from the monsters._

I slowly get up, using a wooden chair as support and I slowly walk to my room. I need to get ready for the reaping, and after the reaping I'll achieve my ultimate happy ending, like in the fairy tales when the monsters die and the princess is free! With a sigh I begin to get ready. Poverty and abuse it etched across my body, bruises and small cuts against my ribs, a newly made foot mark where monster #1 stomped my stomach. I have long red hair that I keep tied back in a pony tail, I don't like it when they pull on my hair, it hurts, freckles are splashed across my face, small freckles that are clearly visible, I'm skinny like most people in this district, too skinny, my frequently broken ribs can be counted by hand. After throwing on a small white dress as I slowly but surely walk down the stairs, however a part of me is afraid, the last time I wore the 'wrong thing' to the reaping I got my nose broken when we got home.

"Now go on you stupid cow!" Monster #2 snarls at me as she pushes me out the door.

"You better not embarrass us or you'll be getting it when we get home you got that?" Monster #1 threatens , glaring at me with wide eyes. I nod my head. The three of us swiftly walk to the reaping and I simply stay looking at the ground, hoping that no one notices me. When I do get to the square I register with the other sixteen year old girls and stand in the crowd, our propaganda film is shown and then our district escort takes the stage, he has a wide smile on his face and is wearing a cowboy hat, he's basically trying to dress like other people who live here dress. "Now it is time to pick our male and female tributes! As always ladies first!" He announces and he turns to the reaping bowl and slowly reaches his hand inside and picks it out. He reads out the name loud and clear for all of district ten to hear.

"Amabel Greyson!"

And then suddenly I scream, I don't scream with excitement nor with terror, I just scream, the sound of my own name makes me scream at the top of my lungs. I'm actually going into the arena, _looks like I won't have my happy ending after all._ It's not fair, I don't deserve this! The peacekeepers barge through the crowd and begin dragging me out of the crowd and towards the stage. I stop screaming as soon as they grab me and make me walk up the steps and onto the stage, my eyes are alert and they're scanning the adult section where the two monsters reside. Monster #1 simply face palms while Monster #2 shakes her head. _They are so lucky I won't be coming home today!_

"And now for the boys."

**Joshua Breckan, 13, D10M**

"Oi Josh! Milk them cows faster boy! I ain't paying you to slack off!"

The sweat and grime refuses to stop as I wipe my forehead and continue tugging as hard as I can, however little by little milk comes out into the bucket. The sweat has already made my short brown hair wet and thin and sticky and my dark brown eyes scream exhaustion. Honestly my boss is a dick, I'll just be straight, he's older, much older than me and could probably kick my ass if I tried anything but I hate him! The pay he gives me is quite crap and he still works me like a dog! I'm quite small for my age, people say I', excessively short even for a thirteen year old. I'm also quite skinny and weak which is why I had to take a job like milking, I don't have to carry heavy stuff. My parents were hesitant to have me work but I convinced them I had to, so I ended up taking a job from Mr. Lenner.

Suddenly I see his shadow behind me and I turn around, he's towering over my crouched figure. "Y-yes sir?" I ask and he crouches down and looks at the bucket, he inspects it and decides it's good enough, after all he did say my goal was at least half a bucket and I completed that right? I got to nearly 3/4 if I guess by looking. "Alright I guess that'a decent, but if you worked harder you could be getting better, now go home and get ready for the reaping, you got the day of tomorrow so work the day after that." He says coolly. I picks up the bucket, turns and walks away to go into his ranch. I sigh and slowly get up, after being on my knees nearly all day with fear of being kicked being let to go is a great prospect, however the reaping isn't. I remember on my first reaping, I was so afraid and this being my second reaping I'm still sort of afraid, I had to take out tesserae again this year because our family needs it, I insisted I take it.7

I get home, take a bath and then get my best clothes on (which are still pretty crap). My mom comes and sees me and smiles. "So how was work today Josh?" She asks me. I smile back, "same ol, same ol," I reply "where's dad?" I ask, usually he's with my mom all the time but he's not, I guess he must be at work or something and my mom confirms it. "He's at work Josh, we'll meet him when we get back." She answers, so together we both leave and go to the reaping.

We get there and I register and stand with the other thirteen year old boys, I'm hyperventilating at this point; _just breathe, in, out, in, out._ I'm doing this right to the point where our district escort shows up after the video and I try to relax. "Now to pick our male and female tributes!" He announces and reaches into the girl's bowl, he reads out some unknown name, one that I don't know so it's obviously someone I don't know. Some girl starts to scream until she is taken to the stage and I know why, she's being sent to die, why wouldn't she be afraid? "And now for the boys!" He says and reaches into the boys bowl and picks out a slip and opens the name of the unlucky soul who's in there.

"Joshua Breckan!"

"NO!" I scream out, singling myself out as being Joshua Breckan and before I know it two peacekeeper's grab me and drag me out of the crowd. They force march me to the stage and I feel like I'm going to collapse, I'm breathing quickly and rapidly, my chest quickly rises and falls and I feel my legs shaking. I find myself standing on the stage before I even know it. "Here we have our tributes of district ten!"He announces and we both shake hands and walk into the justice building.

_I'm going to die._


	11. District 11 reaping

**Marree Verana, 16, D11F**

After my father shakes me awake I find myself slowly walking down the stairs to the living room once again, it's the same routine, at the same time everyday. People say they are jealous of me or are envious of me; I think they don't really understand what it means to be the Mayor's daughter. Being a common district person looks fun at times, they're life seems to be much less predictable than mine, I have to act a certain way, follow a certain schedule, be friends with certain people. People think it's fun and great but in all honesty it's not that great, however, I guess you could say my life is much easier than theirs ever will be. We have a bigger house, we know what's going on outside of District eleven we always have food on our tables and I don't have to work, or take out any tesserae or do any stuff. Some people call me a spoiled brat, as spoiled as you can be in district eleven I guess, do I think that's true? Maybe a little bit but do I exactly enjoy it? That's a no. I wish my life had more flavor to it, not just being the kind of girl everyone expects me to be.

Our house is big, not like the houses in victor's village, it's probably about 3/4 the size of those houses. I walk into my living room slowly, in this light blue dress that my father bought for me yesterday, he insisted I wear it for the reaping. Speaking of my father there he is, sitting on the sofa reading a Capitol newspaper, he's dressed in his smart clothes as well. "There you are petal!" He says with a smile as he puts the newspaper down and pulls me into a loose hug. I take a look at myself in the mirror and honestly I'm quite surprised about how I look as well. Ever since I turned sixteen my growth has shot through the roof, I'm 5'9 no I have relatively clear skin but I'm getting some spots on my face which is quite worrying. I have dark brown skin as well, my hair is platted so it goes down to my back now but I like to tie it up in a pony tail.

Dad smiles at me and hugs me again. "I got your name taken out of the reaping bowl again, you have no chance of being reaped this year." He says, he tells me this basically every year, since I turned twelve he says I have no chance of being reaped because he got my names taken out of the bowl. I don't know if he's lying or not but it certainly is reassuring to know I won't be going to my death this year. "Okay we should get going." He says and he takes me hand and pulls me out the door. Because he's mayor we have to be at the reaping ten minutes before everyone else. So I'm already all registered by the time everyone comes in and registers.

The mayor stands at the stage next to our district escort. The propaganda film is shown and then it's time to pick the names for the tributes this year. "As always ladies first!" She announces and slowly reaches into the bowl and slowly draws out a name. She opens up the slip and reads out the name printed on it. "Maree Verana!" Suddenly everyone's muttering, everyone knows me name, everyone's muttering in the crowd. 'Maree got reaped, Maree got reaped'. I shoot a stone cold glare as my father, it's not that I was picked, it was that he _lied _to me to reassure me. I push through the crowd and walk up to the stage, I will be strong, no matter what I won't let it get to me. People may call me a 'spoiled brat' but in that arena I'll show them I'm anything but; I will win, no matter what.

_I'm about to be sent on the adventure of a lifetime._

**Victor Fagin, 16, D11M**

I'm picking apples from the big tree and then dropping them into the basket. I have to do this everyday for hours and hours, moving on from tree to tree, it's just work. Despite me being sixteen I'm quite small, standing at 5'4 so I'm really short for my age. I'm also really skinny, like a twig and light which makes me perfect for this job. The pay sucks but it's still pay and I can at least by some stuff with it right? I guess I'm quite lucky because compared to other people my age I'm doing pretty well off. I've been doing this job since I was like eight, just doing the same thing over and over, stay in a tree, pick apples, then drop them in the basket. I've gotten really good at it, I never miss that basket now, the last person who missed the basket and bruised the apple got whipped thirty times and suspended from work, his family is starving now. I have to do this job perfectly, not just for my sake but for my family's sake as well. Everything about this district simply scares me.

One of the peacekeeper's walk in and yell out. "Alright workers! Reaping's in thirty so your dismissed for the day but I expect double the effort tomorrow do you understand?!" He announces, the peacekeeper's scare everyone in this district, ever since the rebellion the peacekeeper's have gotten more ruthless, more scary, they're bigger, better stronger; they could probably snap my neck with one arm. I leap off of the tree, the sunlight is making my almost bald head sweat, sweat drips from my light brown skin and I'm panting as I walk to the reaping, it's kind of weird walking straight from work to the reaping but you get used to it after a while.

I get there and register with the other sixteen year old boys and then the propaganda video is shown but I don't pay attention. Our district escort takes the stage and picks out a name from the girl's bowl. "Mareee Verana!" I know that name, it's the mayor's daughter (he scares me as well) I know her because she's in my class but I think that she's a bit spoiled, everyone does. She takes the stage, glaring at her father and she looks unbelievably brave, I don't know what to say. "And now for the boys." She reaches in and picks out a name.

"Victor Fagin."

Suddenly I feel my heart skip a beat and I shakily step out of the crowd, my vision is swimming and swaying and I feel like I'm going to collapse on my side. I step on the stage, not even saying a word. "And here you have it our tributes from district eleven!"

The two of us shake hands and then we both walk into the justice building.


	12. District 12 reaping

**Olive Birk, 17, D12F**

The bakery is busy today, busier than usual because after the reaping the rich usually want to get food to celebrate the fact that none of their children were reaped so in order to prepare we bake a lot of the bread, cakes a head of time. Birk's Bakery is a booming business that everyone who lived in the merchant section of District twelve love to go because it's one of the only bakeries around and if you can afford it then you're one lucky person. The bakery was started by my mother and father who both had a passion for baking and they eventually opened it in the merchant section and now here we are. We're quite a close family, I have two younger brothers, I'm the oldest and I'm a girl so I'm quite protective of my two younger brother's. One is twelve and the other one of fourteen. My mom and dad are rushing around the kitchen baking bread and cakes and said we're not allowed into the kitchen and honestly I'd listen to them. The last time one of us went into the kitchen we got the belt. My parents are usually very loving but when it comes to business they're unbelievably stressed out and ruthless.

I'm up stairs right now, getting ready, I dressed myself in a plain blue dress and tied my hair into pig tails. I'm not really one who cares about appearance that much, I don't have a lot of friends and I'm not one to show off despite the advantages I have over say- a kid from the seam. My hair is light blonde and my eyes are sea blue, people make jokes that I'm actually from district four because of my eyes, luckily for me I'm not really skinny and I'm quite tall, standing at about 6'0 so I'm very tall compared to a lot of people my age. On my feet I wear simple shoes, I don't own high heels, there's barely any in the district and honestly they're just too hard to walk in. "Come on Olive we're gonna be late to the reaping!" My youngest brother says as he bursts through my door. This actually really annoys me and I throw a pillow at him. "Josh haven't you ever heard of knocking?!" I scream and he runs out the door again.

With a sigh I walk out the door and down the stairs, my mother and father are standing with the rest of my family, watching me go down the stairs. "Alright we'll definitely be back, we haven't taken any tesserae so I'm sure it won't be one of us." My mother says as she plants kisses on all of our foreheads. This is Josh's first time in the reaping bowl so of course he's nervous, he's as white as chalk and looks like he's going to vomit. The five of us walk out of the door, walking in the big crowd with all the other anxious children, the sky is grey and the mood is dull which is understandable, it seems that it always looks like it's about to rain on reaping day, I always take it as a bad omen that my name will be drawn out of the bowl, for five years that's happened but I feel like it might happen today. The sky is much grayer than usual, that's definitely a bad sign. People say I'm too superstitious about things and maybe they're right but I believe all visual things mean something; like when I saw my mother had moldy bread I knew I was going to be sick that day and I was, they mean something.

I register and stand with the other seventeen year old girls, that long ass propaganda film is shown to all of us then our district escort takes the stage. She's in a cheery mood as always despite the weather and what day it is today. "And now to pick two of our very own children to compete in the ninetieth Annual Hunger Games!" She says with a clap and draws a name from the girl's bowl.

_This is it._

"Olive Birk"

I knew it.

I'm not afraid, I'm not crying, my heart's pounding against my rib cage but I knew this would happen, the moment I saw the grey sky I knew my fate was sealed. _I just need to accept it._ I close my eyes lightly and walk out of the crowd, I walk to the stage, taking my footsteps with caution, not fear. I walk up the steps and I'm standing there, surveying the crowd, I spot the devastated figures of my family and when I look to the sky I see one thing.

_I see my death._

**Brendon Kenzie-Corenor, 18, D12M**

I exit the mines panting and coughing, the black coal stains my face and my short brown hair, my grey seam eyes scan the place for any peacekeeper's. _I guess it's time I went home._ It's reaping day today so we are always let out of the mines early, I've been working in the mines for two years now. Ever since the rebellion as a punishment the mines were open to boys who were sixteen or over and since working in the mines is one of the only jobs in district twelve we have had a lot more people working the mines now and since they're younger and there's more people there are a lot more 'accidents these days. I try to clean the coal off my face with my hands but I only manage to make it smudge on my cheek so I have to accept that I'm going to have to clear it off in the bucket (a bath). I live in the seam section of district twelve, the poorest place in the whole of Panem apparently, we have quite a very big family so that doesn't make things any more easy. You see our family has a lot of members, and that's including cousins and aunts. We don't all live under the same roof but we do live quite close.

I'm not exactly I guess if there's one benefit to working in the mine it's that it builds physique, I'm always having to haul a lot of coal from out the mines and onto the land. I'm quite tall for my age, standing at 6'2 , people say my physique is intimidating because a lot of other seam boys are small and skinny. I have to walk all the way home which takes a full hour and as soon as I get home my mother tells me to go and wash straight away. After I do this and I'm dressed in the best rags I have me and my family go to the reaping, I don't have any brothers or sisters so I mostly hang out with my cousins. It takes a full hour to get to the district square and we make it just in the nick of time so I register and stand with the other eighteen year old boys. I'm actually quite excited, today is my last day in that stupid bowl and then I'm free, I won't have to worry about no careers smashing my face in or anything scary like that.

After the video our district escort draws the girl's name.

"Olive Birk!"

I have to give the girl credit, she doesn't seem to be afraid that her name was drawn, most people would be so afraid they'd wet themselves or something like that but not her, she goes to meet it full on, I have to give her respect for that. "And now for the boys."

"Bennet Kenzie!"

That's... unfortunate. Bennet is one of my favourite cousins and he's only thirteen, I can hear a scream and them sobbing to see my aunt crying her eyes out, I spot Bennet step out of the crowd but he doesn't want to go. _Who would actually want to go? _He turns and makes a beeline for the gates but the peacekeeper's grab him by the arms almost immediately and he's screaming and shouting that he doesn't want to go. I don't know what made me do it, maybe it was the fact that my aunt was crying her eyes out or that I knew Bennet had no chance but almost instinctively I raise my hand._  
_

"I volunteer!"

I step out of the crowd, staring the pathetic sniveling form of Bennet and staring him in the eye. "You owe me one." I say with a slightly smirk and walk past him, he's staring at me with wide eyes as I walk to the stage. "So what is your name boy?" Our district escort asks me and holds the mic to my face, I take a deep breath and answer. "My name is Brendon Kenzie-Corenor." So with that I shake hands with Olive and we march into the justice building side by side.


	13. Tribute parade

**Capitol Sponsor**

I'm so excited to see this year's batch of tributes because it doesn't matter how good the arena or the Head Game maker is, if the tributes suck then the games will suck but I can't think of a year when I've been sponsoring that the games have sucked completely, there will always be that one tribute or group of tributes that keeps everyone hooked. It will be hard to guess who that will be just based on the reaping but a safe bet will be careers but you never know, there could be a lower district powerhouse who steals the crown one year. That's another thing that keeps be hooked onto the games, the suspense, you never know who will suddenly emerge and win, but that's what I'm here for, I love to bet and sponsor because most of the time I'm right.

Oh and here they are, the tributes in their chariots!

First is district one (personally one of my favorite districts) and once again they never fail to impress. Their outfits are almost blinding, their outfits are like bright lights! I don't know what material those suits are but I know they're expensive, they're white, pure white and the lights simply reflect back onto the crowd. I love the idea. That little boy Scout Palmer, I don't know what's so special about him, I'm not even sure if he's a career or not, he's so small and skinny! Usually careers are tall and muscular, what is this boy's talents exactly? His district partner so far seems to be what I love in a career, dangerous, confident and not afraid of anything. These are the kinds of tributes that win!

And then district two rolls out not far behind district one. They're dressed in pure gold plated armor, however this armor is only on their mid sections and legs, a lot of arm muscle is shown off with those outfits, that man Mason Hammerfell is just absolutely stunning! That physique is enough to _me _cower in my boots and the scar simply adds to all the mystery and excitement about him. Almost everyone at work is hyping about that man, people have already started betting on him! His district partner, Ziana Cubic seems equally dangerous, but we don't know much about her, nothing seems to stand out about her and if there's one thing I don't like about careers it's when they don't stand out.

District three rolls out and their suits are certainly bright. Black, however there are many, many miniature light bulbs that shine in many different colors, white, blue, red green, it keeps me staring at their outfits for a while and I do certainly like it because it stands out, almost like District one's costumes. The two district three tributes seem so detached and if I'm completely honest none of them seem to have anything stand out about them. But you never know, they might turn out to be ruthless killers (my favorite kind of tributes).

The district four tributes are really young this year! It's rare to see young tributes from career districts but it does happen at times. I know for a fact Sparrow is not a career and I absolutely am not betting on her! She's small, skinny and stupid. Her able bodied career sister volunteered for her and she said no! Their outfits are slightly boring, district four has disappointed me this year. They're dressed in scales, suits with bright scales on top of them, it's quite boring in my opinion. However that Cedric boy does look promising, although he is on the young side he's still a career and I must admit he is brave volunteering at such a young age and bravery can be a weakness or a strength in the arena.

District five rolls around and they're dressed in the same outfits as always, power plant workers! Does the stylist even try anymore? But tribute wise all the talk is about that insane girl from five, Gemma Lint is her name, that mental hospital in district five were all the potentially dangerous mentally ill people stay, it was opened there recently and one of them have been reaped and if she's been marked as 'potentially dangerous' and she's being let loose in the arena. I think she may be one of the non-career tributes I sponsor for sure this year.

The district six tributes roll around and I must say the boy is very handsome! It would be a shame to see a handsome face like that rot away in the arena wouldn't it? I marked him down as a tribute I may sponsor the moment he was reaped. But his district partner doesn't really seem to have anything going for her, she's really skinny, pale, malnourished and only average looking at best. They're dressed in some sort of tire suits, I don't know how that works but they certainly are... interesting.

The starstruck lovers from district seven roll around. The boy is definitely well built, Dominic is his name and he looks very victor material. And I heard he spends countless hours working with axes as well, maybe I could sponsor him an axe just to see more blood flowing. And his girlfriend Fiona is very attractive in many of my co-workers eyes, I don't know if I'll sponsor her but I know some of my male co-workers are. District seven are dressed as trees as always. If they team up they could make for an interesting show and they just tug at my heart strings so much.

District eight rolls around and I must say I love the pair of tributes this year. Jamee Holcombe is being mentored by her brother! I sponsored her brother three years ago and I don't regret it, when Peter was poisoned? Antidote came from me. When Peter's allies needed bandages? They came from me. When Peter needed a new weapon? That came from me and a few other people. I might sponsor her as well, like sister like brother right? Jay Stark is a volunteer and volunteers always interest me. They're brave, and I am quite the fan of bravery. They are dressed in the most stylist clothes you can get from the Capitol, I think because district eight handles textiles the stylists just steal clothes from here.

The district nine tributes have basically nothing going for them, the male, Kris Cecil, has already been booked as a bloodbath tribute and his district partner Aksha is so plain. Nothing interesting about her much. They're dressed like farmers the both of them, the farmers that grow stuff. But district nine doesn't have anything going for them in my book but you never know, Aksha may have some hidden talent.

The district ten tributes are dressed as cowboys and cowgirls, well at least the outfit is different from the usual animals. I don't know what to think about the District ten female, Amabel is her name and honestly the district ten boy, Joshua already has the words 'dead' written on his body. Usually I'm never so firm about a tributes but him I know. He's skinny, small and he's just so afraid, he seems like the kind of tribute to step off his plate early or come 24th.

I feel so sorry for the mayor of District eleven, to see his daughter to into the games. I might just sponsor because I can, maybe if I have some spare money or something, she'll certainly need it. I don't know what to think about Victor, he seemed very afraid when his name was drawn but how isn't? The district eleven tributes are dressed like plant people. They look like they have plants growing out of their clothes, props to their stylist because I must admit it is quite amusing.

District twelve don't fail to amaze me once again. I see what appears to be hot ashes being emitted from their clothes, ever since the 74th Hunger Games the district twelve outfits have been so eye catching and easily outshine all the other district clothes. The ashes fly through the air and the crowd goes crazy, all of them trying to catch one of the artificial ashes. The district twelve tributes might actually be promising this year. Brendon has already caught my attention, working in the mines for two years and he's tall and well-built, he could make it very far, maybe even bring district twelve their first victor in a long time. And to top it off he's quite cute! Olive just seems to be a mystery, her reaction was so unexpected! She didn't seem to care, is she confident? Confident? Hopeless? She's such a mystery so she could be a failure or she could be an excellent tribute.

And when the chariots stop the president goes over to greet the tributes. "Welcome! Welcome tributes, we admire your bravery and your sacrifice for our entertainment!" She announces with a grin. "Welcome to the ninetieth Annual Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor!"


	14. Training (Day one)

**Marree Verana, 16, D11F**

Me and Victor are one of the first to arrive, our two mentors woke us up really early so we stay on schedule, it sucks that people have to about to die to get some decent food and clothes around here. For training we got put in these skin tight suits with our district numbers printed on our arms so we know what district each other is from. Our mentors made us watch the reaping tapes and honestly I'm a bit intimidated, I know I need to win this, I can't fail this adventure of a lifetime and if I succeed the rewards are endless. I can't let the other tributes intimidate me. I was told it would be smart to try and make allies because the careers like to try and hunt down the tributes who are all alone, I crossed Victor off the list though. He's just such a coward and such a downer, he wouldn't be any use to me unfortunately. I know he's my district partner and all but I don't even know him that well nor does he seem to have any talents or strengths.

Finally the other tributes show up, district eight is the last to arrive. The head training instructor (I think her name is Atlas or something) starts her speech. "Good morning, here you will spend two days learning new skills and honing them. In a few weeks only one of you will be alive and who that is depends greatly on what you learn here. Don't ignore the survival skills, you never know what you might need to stitch yourself up, fire making is also very useful for keeping warm and boiling waters, weapons aren't the only useful things you can learn about. The chances are a few of you will die from infection, dehydration, starvation and unclean water; don't let it be you. Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor!" Instantly everyone scatters, the career districts all go into their little clique group but once the little girl from four approaches them they all laugh and I listen intently to what happens.

"You want to join us? You have got to be kidding me!" That boy from four laughs as he pushes her away. Sparrow looks like she's about to break down and cry.

"B-but, I-I thought-" She begins but then she's interrupted rudely by Diamond.

"Well you obviously thought wrong then. Don't worry we'll make your death as painless as possible." Diamond adds.

"Now piss off!" Cedric snarls and Sparrow instantly runs away to another station, she runs over to the first aid station and crouches down. I don't know why but I feel so sorry for her, she shouldn't be here, but then again it is kind of her own fault. She should've just let her sister volunteer for her and she'd be fine. I walk over to the first aid station, the trainer tells the two of us about the different things you can use to heal someone, and how you should disinfect a wound and then stitch it up. After his long and detailed explanation me and Sparrow are left to work on our own respective dummies. The dummy is unbelievably detailed, it looks like a proper tribute has been slashed up.

"You know, you don't need them," I say to her, she quickly looks up at me as soon as I start talking to her.

"Wh-what do you mean?" She asks.

"Maybe you could team up with me, we can both help each other." I suggest, her eyes light up instantly and she nods her head quickly.

"Yes, I would love that!" She says.

I hold out my hand to her, "my name's Maree, Maree Verana. District eleven" I say, introducing myself officially.

"My name's Sparrow Link, District four."

_Well at least I don't have to worry about being hunted alone._

**Scout Palmer, 15, D1M**

I didn't really say anything to Sparrow, I'm just not really someone who likes to bully people, I wouldn't like being bullied so I don't do it to them. I kind of just stood back and let the other careers do their thing. The careers all go for the most dangerous looking weapons they can find, Mason demolishes a dummy with an axe, Diamond starts throwing knives at a station and Ziana instantly goes to the sword station and starts decapitating dummies. I slowly go to the bow and arrows station and start shooting arrows at targets, aiming for the vital points, heart, head, neck. I've been shooting bow and arrows since I was like seven, archery is really easy, I don't see why some people miss nearly all the time. I feel calmer with the bow and arrow in my hands, one by one I let the arrows fly, they all sink into the points where I want them to hit. "Do you want me to make them move around?" The instructor asks, I nod weakly, maybe a bigger and better challenge would help.

So he makes them move, and they move pretty damn quick but I don't stop. They're holograms, golden holograms that actually fade away if it would actually die in real life. However it is still quite easy, I just have to be more smart about how I shoot. I hit them all in the places I want to hit, usually only using one arrow, neck, head, heart, it's all the same. They fade away one by one, until I find myself out of arrows. I then exhale when I realize I've finished the course and I put the bow away and bow to the instructor. "Thank you." I say and then turn around and see all the careers are staring at me, my allies of course, did they really stop what they were doing just to watch me shoot? "I-I g m eight, she's holding some sort of spiked mace. She's wielding that weapon so easily, and then she starts attacking. Her mace comes down on a dummy's head, crushing it's skull and sending skull fragments and fake brains everywhere! She then spins and turns out another dummy, smashing it's knee so it makes a very real **crack **and then she swings is again, smashing it's fake collar bone and then she smashes it's face with the mace, the thought of her doing this to a real tribute is quite... scary I must admit. And then she stops, having obliterated two fake dummies and then I realize I would hate to have her as an enemy.

I walk up to her and look at her. "Can I help you?" She asks me.

"H-hi my name's Scout, from district on," I say, she gives me a quizzical look. "Please come with me, please." I say and I tug on her non-weapon hand.

"Why?" She asks.

"Well I saw what you did to those dummies and I think you should join our career pack, it's full of good fighters like you and you'll have all those supplies to yourself." I explain, she puts down the mace and I drag her over to the rest of the careers who are discussing something.

"What the fuck Scout?" Mason asks as soon as he sees Jamee with me.

"Scout you better have a good explanation for this!" Diamond growls as she stares at me.

"Look we're down one career and she's good, look what she did to those dummies!" I say and I point to the dummies she obliterated and the careers seem to calm down a little. "Oh, it's district eight, you're Peter Holcombe's sister aren't you?" Ziana asks her and she nods.

"Well then, welcome to the career pack." Mason says and pats her on the back.

**Lori Ariza, 14, D6F**

I go over to the camouflage station with Raidan, as Raidan tries to paint his arm to blend in with the tree we get to speaking. "So erm, d-do you think you'll be going at this arena alone?" I ask him, he takes a big sigh and shrugs his shoulders. Ever since the train ride we haven't really been talking much, we're both so different, I'm from a poverty stricken part of district six and he's from a more simple and easier life in District six, owning a shop and everything seems to have been treating him well. "Well erm, maybe you would want to ally with me? After all we could keep each other alive." I suggest, the thought of going into an alliance together instantly draws his attention to me. "Well sure, I guess we could help each other for a little bit." He says, I smile, at least I won't be all alone in the arena.

"Do you think we should look for anymore allies?" He asks, I slowly look around, I see the careers playing with the most dangerous weapons in this arena and I wince when one of them decapitates a dummy. "No, I don't exactly trust anyone in this arena." I answer.

"Fair enough then." I says and we get back to painting.


	15. Training (Day two)

**Jay Stark, 18, D8M**

Ugh, training is so troublesome. I don't think I'll want to be in any alliances really, you never know what they'll try to slit your throat, I've seen the alliance betrayals that happen on television, people getting their throats slit in their sleep, stabbed in the back and fed to the mutts. I figured if there's the one time to not be lazy it's this time, when my life is on the line. So I'll probably be going at this alone, during the first day I was mostly just at the survival station, learned how to make a fire, purify water, first aid, catch game, make snares and traps. I don't want to be in too many direct fights because I might lose so my best bet is trying to survive for myself and make traps to indirectly take out some people. Too many direct fights could end up with me getting seriously injured and that would be bad. What would be the point in me fighting only to bleed out a few moments later? Maybe with a few traps I could take out a career without doing anything and for a lazy guy like me I would rather sit back and watch my traps spring then fight a well trained career one-on-one.

Now here I am in the axes station, I've never really used an axe before, but I'll need to learn to use a weapon or I'll surely die if someone gets past my traps and axes just look really useful. You see unlike some tributes I've been smart about how I use my time to learn precious skills and they're all pretty important. I've tried to divide my time as evenly as I can in two days, you see me and Peter were walking about what's useful, we watched his old games tape from three years earlier and I guess I've been trying to see what he did. He was in a big group of allies but I don't want to be in a big group because his group betray each other when it gets to the final ten and I don't want to be a part of that so I'm working at it alone. I think working at it alone will be better, more room to do what I want to do, won't have any extra baggage of an injured ally or something.

I nonchalantly walk to a rack of axes and pick one up in one hand. It's not a battle axe, it's a hatched there are quite a few of them lined up on the rack but I just picked up the hatched because it seemed to be the lightest. I could probably lift up a battle axe so I'll get to using it later but I want to use a lighter axe first. So I pick up the hatched and me an the instructor get to work.

**Amabel Greyson, 16, D10F**

I was so disappointed when I was reaped, it was such a shame I couldn't banish the monsters from my life but maybe if I win then I can banish the monsters right? The monsters can't get me all the way in the Capitol right? No one can get me in the Capitol because I'm safe from the monsters but I'm not safe from the other tributes. The tributes are also the new monsters, the new monsters that need to be banished and I'll banish them all, and then when I go back to district ten I'll banish the original monsters. Yes, it's the prefect plan! And then I'll live happily ever after like I always should have!

I'm at the fire making station, I plan to be setting people on fire hopefully, that's like the best way to kill monsters, back in district ten when we want to make something clean we boil it as well so then I won't be drinking dirty water. It's taking so long set alight, I've been rolling this wood for about five minutes now while the instructor just sits there. And then suddenly there's a loud **crack!** And the fire gets done and it's beautiful. The things I can do with this fire are absolutely amazing! I look around and see what the other monsters are doing. That boy from eight (I think his name is Jay) is using an axe on the dummies, the careers are in big group and talking. The two monsters from six are at the first aid station. I see every single tribute in here except the two monsters from seven which is strange because I know I saw them both here when we got here, they must've slipped out and gone somewhere private or something.I simply shrug my shoulders and go back to looking at my fire.

**Brendon Kenzie-Corenor, 18, D12M**

When lunch is called I stop my knife sparring with the instructor and he gives me a short bow, a sign of respect. I guess it would make sense for me to bow back? I slowly and hesitantly bow back to him and then walk away. So far I haven't really been drawing attention to myself, I've just been trying to lay low and not draw any attention to myself. I tried to wield a sword but I failed at that miserably so I started using a knife and it's so much easier, it's lighter, I'm quicker and it fits well with my physical strength. Our mentor says that strength could be a very good advantage for me and also using pickaxes which is useful, and I learned a few tricks in the mines about fires and all that pyro stuff, I guess I'll have a few advantages in the arena if you ask me , I'm not completely unskilled, I've had my strategy all planned out, stay low, fly under the radar.

I'm sitting at the lunch table with a tray full of food and it's the best food I've ever tasted. I love it, these drinks they call 'fizzy drinks' I've never, ever had a fizzy drink and I love it. I'll order more and more when I get into my room. I could die in that arena (not that I plan on going out without a fight) so I need to make use of every chance I have to enjoy it here in the Capitol, food, drinks, television. There is so much stuff in the Capitol that I could only ever dream about, like the food in front of me now, this is probably one of the last times I'll be able to eat it (unless I win) so I need to make the most of it. I'm sitting all alone, the careers pushed two big tables together so they could eat although that girl from eight is with them so maybe she joined them? Honestly I couldn't care less, it's quite funny how although I don't really care about the other tributes they could end up slitting my throat in a few days.

Suddenly I see that boy from five, I think his name was Johan or something and he is standing right opposite me, starring at me as I try to eat my food, I raise my eyebrow at him. "Well, what do you want?" I ask him, honestly I couldn't care less about what these tributes think of me, if we're going to be killing each other in a few days why the fuck would I care about manners? "I-I erm, can I sit here?" He asks me, it's quite obvious he's slightly intimidated and I simply respond to his question with a glare followed by a stern "no!" Suddenly I hear the thump of a tray and someone tries to sit next to me, I can't remember who she is, I think she's from nine or something. "You don't own this table you know!" She butts in and I turn and face her, she seems absolutely fearless. Maybe if this wasn't the Hunger Games I'd admire her a little bit bravery a little bit. "Fine." I growl and Johan sits opposite me as well. I don't want to start a fight in the training center so I might as well let them sit here.

"What's your name anyway?" I ask her.

"Aksha Kayne," she answers. "I know your name, you're that volunteer from twelve right? Brendon or something?" I slowly nod my head.

"What about you kid, what's your name?" She asks Johan.

"Johan Stattic, d-district five." He answers as he slowly puts a piece of bread in his mouth. _How did I even get myself talking to these people?_ I think to myself as I continue to eat. I don't know why or how but over time the three of us start talking more, the tension slowly unwinding with conversation.

"S-so do you two maybe want to be allies? I think we'll all need all the help we can get." Johan proposes. I clench my jaw tightly at this proposal, this could go either really good or go really bad. "I'm fine with it, what about you coal miner?" She asks me.

"Fine then, for a few days at least as long as none of you two try to kill me later."

**Michelle Nami, 18, D3F**

This is all too hard, weapons, traps, all of it. How could anyone possibly weird a sword well within two days. I've mostly just been sticking with nerd (that's my nickname for Borris) he keeps on muttering something about the trajectory of the knife he throws or something weird like that. He's not exactly the biggest guy in the arena but he sure is smart and knows what he's doing. I've decided to stick with him in the arena, I think that would be a smart choice because I'm not really good at that much stuff and I could learn a trick or to from him. Right now me and him are at the first aid station, we're both trying to patch up a dummy that has a few stab wounds. Nerd is finding it pretty easy which annoys me quite a bit. He's like some kind of multi-talented genius, to think if he wasn't going to be dying soon he could maybe be doing work for the Capitol.

"Here let me help you." He offers and starts helping me stitch up a deep gash on the dummy, he shows me the steps carefully and explains them in as much detail as he can, using all that biology and human body stuff. "Thanks." I say at the end of his demonstration as I look at the mostly stitched up and bandaged dummy that took me about an hour to do. "No problem, if my plan works we should make it to the final eight with ease." He says and I nod. I have to rely on him for now because right now he has all the answers that I lack.


	16. Private training scores

**District 1**

**Scout Palmer: 11**

**Diamond Illuminare: 8**

**District 2**

**Mason Hammerfell: 10**

**Ziana Cubic: 8**

**District 3**

**Borris Tango: 6**

**Michelle Nami: 4**

**District 4**

**Cedric Avery: 8**

**Sparrow Link: 5**

**District 5**

**Johan Stattic: 5**

**Gemma Lint: 2**

**District 6**

**Raidan Bisalt: 8**

**Lori Ariza: 6**

**District 7**

**Dominic Roscow: 6**

**Fiona Lyte: 7**

**District 8**

**Jay Stark: 6**

**Jamee Holcombe: 9**

**District 9**

**Kris Cecil: 3**

**Aksha Kayne: 7**

**District 10**

**Joshua Breckan: 5**

**Amabel Greyson: 4**

**District 11**

**Victor Fagin: 4**

**Maree Verana: 7**

**District 12**

**Brendon Kenzie-Corenor: 10**

**Olive Birk: 6**


	17. Tribute interviews

**Diamond Illuminare, 16, D1F**

"You can do this Diamond, you're strong, confident and you're a career. Now show it!" My mentor says to me. My dress is like any normal dress but it's definitely something you could never find in District one. The Capitol has truly bedazzled me and left me glamorous and pampered ever since I first got here. Maybe if, no when, I win I I can spend more and more time here than back in District one. District one has given me an easy life and I wouldn't have the skills I have without it but this place is the true definition of 'living it big'. My brown hair is shiny and soft, my stylist team has highlighted all of my good and best qualities while trying to hide any physical flaws I may possess. My eight in training has definitely got my hyped out, but not as much as Scout. I honestly can't believe that little _kid_ got the highest score out of all the tributes, which makes me, look second rate and if there's one thing I won't settle for its second rate. He didn't even tell me what he did; every time I look at him it frustrates me a little bit because the Game makers think that he is actually better than me. But for now we'll be teammates but when it's all said and done I'll show them that Scout was not better than me.

I have to admit I'm nervous about my interview I have to make everyone like me, I mean I do have quite a few friends in District one. I'm going to be the very first to go and I have to make myself stick, I don't want to be forgotten when all the tributes are done. District one won the last games and I intend to keep the streak going. "Now for our first tribute from District one! Diamond Illuminare!" My interviewer announces and all the Capitol people start shouting and cheering, all of the build up tension and hype about this year's tributes is going to be let out all on this night. Our interviewer's name is Cryo Bluesae. He's been doing this for about three years now and I have to admit he makes me feel comfortable straight away. Cryo makes me feel at home straight away, he sits on the red, comfortable leather seat rather nonchalantly, I'm nervous but I still feel a bit comfortable. I never thought I'd see the day I'm nervous, usually I'm confident, usually I'm not scared, why are the jitters kicking in now?

"Welcome Diamond, so how do you like the Capitol so far?" He asks me with a smile, revealing his stainless white teeth and he points the microphone towards me to answer. "Well Cryo I must say it is great. I never thought somewhere could be better than District one but this place surely has proved me wrong." I say, sounding surprised, I'm keeping a smile plastered onto my face. "Well then, what do you think of your training score? Were you surprised? I don't see why you would be disappointed; an eight is certainly something to brag about if I must admit." _Don't pay attention to Scout's eleven; this is all about you Diamond, no one else, just you._ I don't even think about my answer, it just sort of flows off my tongue naturally. "Well it certainly is good but I don't think it truly reflects my best work if I am completely honest." Cryo raises his eyebrows in surprise. "So you certainly think you're capable of so much more?" He asks. I grin and nod my head twice. The crowd clap at this point, happy they'll see more excitement in the arena.

"Well I guess we have something to look forward to then folks, better keep an eye on whatever hidden tricks this girl has up her sleeve eh!"The crowd cheers and claps at the thought of more entertainment. And then after a few questions I am given my final question. "Do you have anyone you miss back home? Anything you want to say to that person?" Cryo asks me and the whole crowd seems to go silent and stop doing anything, it's so silent you can hear a pin drop, I swear I feel like I'm going to crack under the pressure. "I guess all I'll say to my family is keep watching out for me. I'll be home soon, I promise."

**Buzz!**

**Mason Hammerfell, 17, D2M**

I feel like my stylists really went overboard if I'm perfectly honest. They spent so much time trying to make my suit as skin tight as possible in order to show off my muscle and make my look intiimdating. But when they tried to put make-up on my face to cover up my scar I immediately told them 'No.' I would not stoop to make-up just to cover my flaws, everyone has flaws, there is no use trying to hide them. I don't try to stand out back in District two, I just wear simple clothes, I don't draw too much attention to myself, I just like to keep myself to myself and honestly I prefer it that way. It makes life so much simpler, honestly I think the only thing that makes me stand out is that scar on my face but that's it. I guess maybe my muscle would single me out as a heavy career. As I stand in line I try to push away what my family is thinking to the back of my mind and focus on obvserving the interviews, what I see now can give me a vague idea about who my future opponents are and what they'll be like.

The crowd automatically loves Scout, why wouldn't they? He's small and cute and that eleven in training shows that he's dangerous. That eleven was higher than what I got, what exactly did he do in there I wonder? He'll be a useful ally for sure, our bloodbath tactics are set and everything specifically thought out by me. And then Ziana goes on, with that eight in training the crowd likes her as well I don't know if she's got a lot of sponsors or not but we'll see. And then it's me. "He's big, he's strong and he's from District two. Please give a big hand to Mason Hammerfell of District two!" Cryo announces and the crowd immediately get up and start clapping and cheering. I don't know what has made me stand out already, is it my physique? My look? My training score? Training score's can't possibly be the only thing on these people's minds. I'm inches taller than Cryo, I shake hands with him and then sit down in the red leather seat opposite him and the crowd instantly quietens down for us to begin my interview.

"So Mason, a ten in training, that sure is something, was you expecting that?" He asks me, he's hyping me up a lot for the crowd, I'm not even hyping myself up as much as he is but I guess that is his job. I do my best to keep up the strong and intimidating angle, I'm usually like that so it's not exactly that hard. I prefer it, I don't need to act like someone who adores the crowd or loves the attention. "I can't say I was expecting it but I am pleased with it." I say darkly, not even bothering to lift my voice to sound sociable. "Well you have the right to be pleased, second highest score in training." He says, I simply nod my head, not smiling or giving off any sort of enjoyment towards the crowd or Cryo himself. "So what advantages do you think you have in the arena?" He asks me, I don't want to answer that question, he's basically asking my to give up my strategy. "A lot of advantages." I say simply. Cryo can tell from the look on my face I would rather not disclose my strategies at the moment so he instantly switches the subject to something else.

"Do any tributes intimidate you?"

"No."

"Do you have any family back home?"

"Yes. My parents and my brother."

"Is there anything you want to say to them?"

"Wish me luck."

This goes on and on where I don't give too many obvious answers, disclosing one things that need to be disclosed.

"Ladies and Gentlement that's Mason Hammerfell from District two!"

And the crowd cheers for me.

**Buzz!**

**Gemma Lint, 17, D5F**

_Afraid._

That's all I'm feeling at this moment. My stylists literally had to sedate me to get me ready. The doctors did that to me a lot of times in the mental hospital, whenever I'd try to kill one of the other people because I thought they were trying to get me. What if they had done something to me? They were going to get me naked and be touching me! They could've done anything, what if one of them pulled out a knife and stabbed me? Ever since my name was drawn I keep thinking the tributes are going to come into my room and slit my throat on my sleep. I haven't been sleeping, I've been staying awake with a kitchen knife by my bed, I think I've only been sleeping for a few hours. Whenever my mentor speaks to me she makes sure she's about more than arms length away from me because they never know when I'm going to snap. It's been a long time since I've been in anything but white overalls and it feels weird, less specious, more tight (could that mean something?). I don't like this 'dress' how will I run away if someone attacks me? Now I'm standing in line with the other tributes who will be out for my blood tomorrow.

My body is tense and my fists are clenched, that boy from District three proves to be smart, using big words and talking about his many projects at home. He's surely plotting my demise in that big juicy brain of his. The district four boy is before me, he sounds like and arrogant prick to be honest, if he comes near me I'll demolish him, I don't even care. "Now for our District five female tribute! Gemma Lint!" I'm pushed out onto stage, my eyes are wide and wild as they scan the crowd, they're all cheering for me and clapping their hands. I slowly but surely walk over to a seat and sit down. "So Gemma, how do you like the Capitol so far?" The man asks me, I'm just staring at him, I'm afraid to speak, I don't want to speak. "I-It's fine." I stutter.

He chuckles and attempts to put his hand on my shoulder and that's when I lose it. "GAAHHH! DON'T TOUCH ME!" I scream and slap his hand away and as fast as I can in these high heels I bolt off the stage.


	18. Morning odds (3 hours before bloodbath)

On a huge screen in the Capitol, on nearly every single television screen in Panem has Cryo and the arena announcer discussing the current odds of the tributes. "Of course our tributes from District one and two look very promising this year, but Jamee has been quite the surprise, being related to a victor and all." Cryo says.

"And here they are, the odds of the tributes now, these are based off interviews and training scores, we have tried to access them as honestly as possible just for you folks!"

**Morning line odds, 3 hours before the bloodbath**

**Scout Palmer, District one: 4-1**

**Diamond Illuminare, District one: 7-1**

**Mason Hammerfell, District two: 3-1**

**Ziana Cubic, District two: 6-1**

**Borris Tango, District three: 21-1**

**Michelle Nami, District three: 29-1**

**Cedric Avery, District four: 9-1**

**Sparrow Link, District four: 60-1**

**Johan Stattic, District five: 20-1**

**Gemma Lint, District five: 43-1**

**Raidan Bisalt, District six: 17-1**

**Lori Ariza, District six: 25-1**

**Dominic Roscow, District seven: 16-1**

**Fiona Lyte, District seven: 13-1**

**Jay Stark, District eight: 20-1**

**Jamee Holcombe, District eight: 9-1**

**Kris Cecil, District nine: 61-1**

**Aksha Kayne, District nine: 39-1**

**Joshua Breckan, District ten: 70-1**

**Amabel Greyson, District ten: 69-1**

**Victor Fagin, District eleven: 54-1**

**Maree Verana, District eleven: 45-1**

**Brendon Kenzie-Corenor, District twelve: 18-1**

**Olive Birk, District twelve: 21-1**

"This seems to be a very mixed ability group of tributes."

* * *

**Next chapter is the countdown!**


	19. The Countdown

**Jamee Holcombe, 18, D8F**

It was tough for me to sleep last night after my interview that is and after the argument I had with Peter. We argued over the fact that I had joined forces with the careers, he said that they'd surely betray me first and that they are evil. I guess I can understand where he's coming from, the careers were like demons in the arena he was in. Him and his big alliance against their alliance got into a lot of fights and Peter would just barely get out alive. Now he thinks that I'll be like one of them, but how dare he judge me! He's not a tribute anymore! He can't call me evil for doing whatever it takes to stay alive! He _killed _people, careers and normal tributes alike, I don't judge him, he was just trying to stay alive just like I'm going to be trying to stay alive because I'm doing whatever it takes to make a name for myself. I am no longer just 'Peter's sister'. I am Jamee Holcombe, future victor of the Ninetieth Hunger Games!

After finishing my oatmeal me and Jay have to walk to the ship, Peter decides to come with, before I go he stops me. "I hope what happened last night doesn't make you think I don't love you, because I do," He starts, I take in a deep breath and nod. No matter what happens we will always love each other. "Just remember the advice I told you and just come home." He says and pulls me into a soft hug. "I'll try." Is all I say, that's all I can do, just tell him I'll try my best and hope my best is enough. He releases me and I go into the hovercraft with the other tributes. _Hopefully that hug with him won't be our last._

**Fiona Ltye, 16, D7F**

I spent the whole night with Dominic the last night, it probably will be out last night together, it'll just be the two of us in the arena, against 22 other tributes who will be after us. After the hovercraft landed I was taken to my stylist and he gave me the uniform. Brown combat trousers and very tight wellies, boots made out of wellies' material but it was very tight, I tucked the bottom of my combats into my wellies. A grey T-shirt, just a blank grey T-shrt and a jacket, my socks were very thick and warm as well. "Well, this jacket reflects body heat, maybe you'll be going into an arctic environment but they would've given you gloves if it was an arctic enviroment. These wellies suggest there is definitely going to be mud and the socks are thick as well, expect some cold points in the arena," He explains "don't worry I believe in you." He says, he ties my blonde hair back into a pony tail. "One minute until launch." A callous, robotic voice says and I know it's time for me to step into the tube. I slowly step into the tube and wait for a heart-stopping minute before the glass slide closes. He gives me one nod before I feel myself being slowly elevated into the arena.

**Kris Cecil, 17, D9M**

I'm doing my best not to cry as I survey my graveyard. I immediately look around and see it's morning, the sun is shining and bright and I can see birds flying overhead. There are tall trees all around, however for some reason these trees all have absolutely no leaves on them, just big branches. Water, I hear water, I turn my head to see a stream, the stream water doesn't look too clean however for some reason. And then I notice... the mud, there's mud everywhere! Not grass, no just really thick mud, the must looks so thick, and squishy, it's brown as always and I can tell that anyone would easily slip and slide on that mud. So how are we exactly supposed to run fast? I grit my teeth and bite my lip as I see the huge golden cornucopia horn. There are supplies strewn everywhere but some of them are already dirty and stained from all the mud it's been lying in. And then the noise startles me as the voice of the announcer booms overhead. "Ladies and Gentlemen! Let the Ninetieth Annual Hunger Games begin!"

**Cedric Avery, 15, D4M**

60.

59.

58.

57.

56.

55.

_Alright just meet up with the careers and then we can start our attack. Mason's plan seems legit._

54.

53.

52.

51.

50.

**Sparrow Link, 12, D4F**

49.

48.

47.

46.

45.

_Don't cry Sparrow. Crying isn't going to help you now._

44.

43.

42.

41.

40.

**Olive Burk, 17, D12F**

39.

38.

37.

36.

35.

_I'm going to die. The clouds said so._

34.

33.

32.

31.

30.

**Raiden Bisalt, 15, D6M**

29.

28.

27.

26.

25.

_This is it. I won't die now, I won't die in this arena. I refuse._

24.

23.

22.

21.

20.

**Ziana Cubic, 16, D2F**

19.

18.

17.

16.

15.

_I'm begginning to have second thoughts about this. Is the money really worth it?_

14.

13.

12.

11.

10.

**Gemma Lint, 17, D5F**

9.

8.

7.

6.

5.

_All of them are out to get me, but I won't let them; I'll kill them all first._

4.

3.

2.

1.

**GONG!**


	20. The Bloodbath

**Dominic Roscow, 17, D7M**

As soon as the gong rings I'm sprinting... big mistake. After about ten steps I think I'm gonna be the first there but the stupid slippery mud makes me slip and I land on my back, and before I know it I'm literally sliding on my back towards the cornucopia. I finally stop sliding next to a roll of twine, I figure it will be useful so I grab it, and behind me is a bright blue bag so I figure I should take that as well._ Great now where's Fiona? _I think to myself as I throw the twine in my backpack. I'm frantically searching around and in my search I immediately see that there is carnage going on. The boy from six gets lucky and finds a machete near the cornucopia and manages to block a sword strike from the boy from four. Honestly I don't think he'll make it but you never know. _Wait, I need to find a weapon._

I grab my back, get up and start running but at a much slower pace than before. As I run at my basic jog I see the boy from nine running as well, but he's running towards me. _Fuck. _I think to myself, I didn't want to have to do with so early. I clench my free hand, spin and send it flying in his direction, it connects right with his jaw and my efforts are rewards with a resounding **crack!** and he falls to the floor screaming in pain. I'm not sure if I've killed him or not, honestly I don't even care, I want someone else to finish him off because I need to continue my search for a weapon. And my search is rewarded because as I get dangerously close to the cornucopia I find a spear, more specifically a boar spear. All my time lifting wood and swinging axes come in handy because I lift it.

"Dominic!" I hear and I spin around to see Fiona running towards me, she has a cut on her cheek. "Let's get out of here!" She screams and she sprints away, I agree fully and follow her, escaping the carnage.

**Mason Hammerfell, 17, D2M**

Okay now we're rolling, all the careers are at the cornucopia, Cedric, however Cedric appears to be already injured with some red running down his forehead and Ziana are currently raiding it for supplies, me and Scout run to side of the cornucopia while the other tribute fight. "Mason gimme a boost!" He shouts and lock my hands together and let him climb on them, and then with a yell and lift him and he manages to get on top of the cornucopia, armed with his bow and arrows he's now dangerous. I run back and Cedric tosses me a battle axe, now I can begin to fight effeciently. I spin around and see the boy from nine, Kris Cecil, he appears to be almost crying and his jaw is hanging, perfect target. I charge at him and duck down low and grab him by the legs, the knees more specifically and I lift him up, and throw him back down and with a battle cry and embed my battle axe into his chest. I yank it out and proceed to move onto the next target.

**Aksha Kayne, 18, D9F**

After finding a machete I spin around and see the girl from six running, I think she's trying to run away, but I don't want to let that happen. I chase after her and swing my machete but it isn't strong enough. I manage to leave a gash on her back but she keeps running, I don't want to chase her because my allies and supplies are back there. I've already met up with Brendon and now we're waiting for Johan. Brendon already has two backpacks and a knife while I've only found what appears to be some sort of machete. "We should leave him!" I shout out but Brendon shakes his head, we're standing back to back and randomly lashing out at any tributes that come near us, luckily none of those tributes have happened to be careers yet. "There he is!" Brendon shouts and I see Johan trying to get some supplies but it was honestly a bad move, already I see Cedric clutching a sword and running towards him, and the kid hasn't even noticed yet! "Fuck it let's go!" Brendon shouts and before we run we see Cedric slash Johan on the chest, leaving a large gash and then he grabs Johan by the foot and dragd him into the cornucopia horn and out of sight. I know and Brendon knows that's probably the last of Johan we'll see in the flesh.

And then we run.

**Jay Stark, 18, D8M**

I don't know how long I've been at the cornucopia, maybe four minutes or so? There's still quite a few tributes left however and not many corpses, this is quite a slow-paced bloodbath, not that I'm complaining. I've just been picking up supplies and shoving them in my backpack. I turn around and see Jamee holding what appears to be a mace, and then I see what appears to be the boy from eleven running towards her, thinking he can take her because he has a small dagger in his hands, big mistake fool. Before he can even lunge she swings her mace at his knees and takes him off his feet, and on his front, he's screaming and clutching his knees,;I know they're probably broken. But funnily enough she doesn't finish him off, she just goes and gets more stuff. But then I know there's no hope for that guy because the girl from one, Diamond or something takes a sword and runs towards him and I know I don't want to see what happens next.

I turn around and just before I can get out of there turn around to see Joshua running at me with a tomahawk axe. But he doesn't know how to use and it his swing is slow and clumsy. I quickly side step, stick my foot out and trip him over, we get into a brief fight over the hatchet but it's ended short when an arrow comes wizzing and sticks itself right in the back of his shoulder and I turn around to see that Scout kid ,standing on top of the cornucopia ,he got an eleven and he's looking at us and loading another arrow. I should end this quick, I take the tomahawk and I know what I need to do. "Please no, it's not fair!" The kid cries.

"Life's not fair," I quickly say and bring the axe down on his forhead. I yank it out in disgust to see what looks like a hole in his forehead but his skull him split, when I yank it out a piece of what appears to be his brain fly off my hatchet. I turn aroud just in time to see the arrows whizzing towards my eye an I raise the tomahawk and it deflects the arrow. With a grunt I carry my heavy backpack and take off running.

**Michelle Nami, 18, D3F**

Everyone's starting to flee and I think it's about time I did. Borris is armed, he has a packet of throwing knives, I don't need a weapon yet, I have a backpack with stuff so I'm lucky. "Nerd, let's go!" I yell to Borris as he finishes off loading his small purse (seriously out of all things to get he picks up a purse). "Michelle run!" He screams and I can tell why, Scout's been shooting arrows at people left right and center, barely any one has been able to get anywhere near the cornucopia, instead of actively running out and killing us they've just been keeping are best supplies to themselves. However a bunch of them are raiding the horn for supplies now so there's only Mason and Ziana out there, just staring at us but Scout is already aiming.

I gulp and turn but then at the last minute I feel a piercing pain in my thigh and I let out a blood curdling scream and drop do the floor, Borris doesn't even bother to help, he just continues running. _Fuck you nerd._ He just left me here to die. It's just me and the careers left at the horn now. I'm almost sobbing as I try to crawl away, Mason, Ziana and Jamee have surrounded me in a sort of circle. "Who wants to kill her?" Mason asks stoicly to the two girls, Jamee is quite hesitant, she doesn't want to, although her mace is already bloody. "Why don't you just do it yourself you fucking coward?!" I spit at him, he just takes my insult with a grain of salt and walks away. "I-I'll do it." Ziana stutters as she takes her dory spear and spins me around, she's pressing the blade of the spear against my throat. But it's shaking so much, her hands are actually shaking, she's a career and she's hesitating. "Do it you corward!" I say and then I feel the sharp point driving itself through my throat.

I'm gasping and struggling for air but nothing happens, the blood must be suffocating me or something because I can't breath, all I can taste is blood, the warm metallic taste of blood as I feel it slowly filling up my mouth. "I-I'm so sorry." Jamee says to me as Ziana pulls it out.

_No you're not._

* * *

**Kris Cecil - I just couldn't see you surviving the bloodbath when I made you. Your fear was too great and fear can be crippling. I'm so sorry you had to come last Kris. R.I.P.**

**Johan Stattic - I was originally going to have you survive the bloodbath but if you survived there would've been too many people alive, I generally like to kill 5-6 people in the bloodbath and when I had only decided on four deaths the person that made the most sense was you. I'm so sorry you couldn't be as useful to your alliance as you could've been. They'll miss you. R.I.P.**

**Victor Fagin - I guess the same reason for you dying is Kris. Your fear was too great and fear is as much as a disadvantage as an advantage (at times). You could've been so much more but the odds were just stacked against you when you decided to go for Jamee. R.I.P.**

**Joshua Breckan - You were just unlucky to end up going for Jay. There was nothing about your personality I didn't like but it's just as a tribute I couldn't see you making it far, a little kid born in a poor district does not have very good chances unfortunaely. You were a good character but I just couldn't see you making it far as a tribute. R.I.P.**

**Michelle Nami - You were hard to kill because I had a few good plans for you and Borris, but when I realized I only had like 3 deaths planned out it was an agonizingly painful decision to make you die. I wanted you to go further but I have to follow my head more than my feelings. Against the careers you were just no match. R.I.P.**

**Death list so far**

**24th - Kris Cecil: Jaw broken by Dominic Roscow. Axed in chest by Mason Hammerfell. (Killer is Mason Hammerfell)**

**23rd - Johan Stattic: Slashed in chest and then stabbed in back my Cedric Avery. (Killer is Cedric Avery)**

**22nd - Victor Fagin: Knees broken my Jamee Holcombe. Stabbed in neck by Diamond Illuminare. (Killer is Diamond Illuminare)**

**21st - Joshua Breckan: Skull split by Jay Stark. (Killer is Jay Stark)**

**20th - Michelle Nami: Stabbed in neck by Ziana Cubic. (Killer is Ziana Cubic)**


	21. Day 1

**Cedric Avery, 15, D4M**

It's been about thirty minutes since everyone fled it's just us left at the cornucopia, well us and the corpses littered around this area. I have to admit Mason's plan was absolutely flawless, not many other tributes got any decent supplies because we were practically guarding all the supplies closest to us. "Hold still Cedric!" Ziana says, I'm leaning against a tree, holding the sword I found at the cornucopia while Ziana wraps my head with a bandage, really it's just to stop the bleeding in my forehead because it was going in my eyes and blinding me. Infection is also a risk; this arena isn't very clean. She finally finishes wrapping up my head. It was that boy from six, Raidan or something was his name. I tried to kill him and he blocked, he caught me by surprise and clashed my forehead, I was lucky the blood didn't start to drip into my eyes or I would've been fighting blind. Although other than that small thing I consider the bloodbath to have gone smoothly, honestly we were like a well-oiled machine.

"Does it feel comfortable?" She asks me.

"Yea, thanks a lot." I reply as I touch it slightly, the pain instantly makes me wince.

Diamond is pacing up and down the place, restless and still eager for more action, she ditched the sword she found at the cornucopia and picked up a flail she found in the horn. A scary looking flail, a brown handle with a chain and a heavy spiked ball attached to it, Scout has gone to collect the arrows he shot , the quiver only had around 16 and he shot at least half of them at the order tributes, luckily most of them hit so they aren't buried in the thick layer of mud. And while he's at it he's collecting some of the supplies out there and putting them with the rest of the other supplies. "Guys, we need to do something, we can't just sit around here all day!" Diamond complains, she's still pacing up and down, the frustration shows in her voice. "Calm down Diamond, we just fought for our lives here! Relax!" Ziana says, she's standing up but leaning against the horn, her dory spear is resting next to her.

"Relax? Relax?! You're a career Ziana, start acting like one, we don't _relax _in the Games! That gets you killed!" Diamond retorts. I can honestly see a fight about to go down.

"Diamond look around you, I think after doing all this we deserve a break, besides you're not even in charge!" She growls back, she's picked up her spear and not leaning against the horn anymore. _Oh shit. _

"Ladies, ladies, calm down, we can't have you two killing each other already on day one." I say in a joking way, trying to lighten up the mood a little bit because honestly the mood it too dull here. "Shut up Cedric, you aren't helping, go play with your toys little boy!" Diamond snarls. _Wow, talk about hurtful._ "Okay so what exactly do you expect us to do?" Ziana asks.

And then almost out of nowhere Mason walks out from the cornucopia, he has a two-edged battle axe in his hands, armoured gloves and a backpack crammed with stuff on his back. "I'll tell you what we're gonna do," he begins, his voice instantly makes the two bitching girls shut up and listen to him, _he's the true leader of this pack._ "We're gonna hunt, we'll split up into three groups and hunt down the other tributes." At this point Scout has already finished collecting his arrows and is standing in front of him. "Me and Ziana will take the south side leading to the woods over there," he says and he points behind, where the trees are the densest. "Jamee, Scout, you two will follow the stream, there are sure to be tributes who think they have an easy water supply there," he says and Scout nods. "Cedric, Diamond, you two will go towards the north where those mountains are," He says and points to the mountains. "The six of us will meet up back here at dusk." He says and we all nod and split off into out groups.

_Alright tributes here we come._

**Marree Verana, 16, D11F**

I don't know how I managed to survive _that._ And I actually managed to get something decent somehow. My footsteps cause heavy squelching sounds in the mud as mud droplets fling up in the air. I've found a saw and I can feel the adrenaline wearing off as I slow down to a jogging pace and then eventually stop. I need to check my satchel and what I got in it. I throw it off my back and open up the zip to see what's inside. I find a twine, a quite long twine, I don't know how that will possibly be useful but we'll see. I've found a cooking pot, great I can use it to boil water, hopefully I'll find some water. I've got a pair of mitts in there, pink fluffy mittens, okay maybe they can keep my hands warm or something, I find a packet of berries that miraculously haven't been squished or touched in the chaos os 24 kids trying to kill each other. And then I start to hear it. **BOOM!** _One tribute. _**BOOM!** _Two tributes. _**BOOM!** _Three tributes. _**BOOM!** _Four tributes._ **BOOM! **_Five tributes._ Five dead huh? I wonder who they are, hopefully none of them is Sparrow, I couldn't bear the though of Sparrow getting killed by careers. _Please don't be dead Sparrow. _I don't know how I'm going to find her. I can't draw attention to myself in any way or I'll surely die. After I took off I went towards the stream, hopefully no careers are looking for me yet. The smell of mud here is almost overwhelming and I hate the feeling and the noise it makes one my boots. The Game Maker's must really want us to get dirty or something because there is too much mud here and no grass, I haven't seen a single bit of green here in this arena, just mostly brown. I'm hating it here already.

During the bloodbath I managed to get and get out with nearly no one seeing me, no one seemed to notice me so I managed to take my stuff and escape with no one so much as swinging their sword at me. _I wonder what my dad is thinking right now. _Is he scared for me? I don't know why but I'm still so angry at him for lying to me about taking my name out of the bowl, he just makes me feel like such a spoiled brat with the way he's always babying me, keeping me safe like a princess. I just wanted a little bit of adventure in my life, that's all and then he actually lies to me and tells me there's no chance of me being reaped, and now here i am, in the games anyway. I guess in a way this is like one big adventure accept I could die, like an adventure for riches or something.

"Aaaaahhhh!"

I hear a high pitched voice scream, it sounds feminine. _Sparrow! _I instantly think to myself and run as fast as I can without slipping over to the source of the noise, she can't possibly be to far away. And I find her relatively quickly, I see her laying on her back and the girl from five, her name is Gemma or something, standing over her and she's holding a knife, about to slit Sparrow's throat by the looks of it. "Get the fuck away from her you phsycopath!" I scream and I do some quick thinking, I sprint over to her and wildly slash my saw at her, the saw nicks her arm, it just about breaks the skin and draws a little bit of blood. This sends Gemma into a screaming frenzy and she swings her knife at me neck, I step backwards, avoiding what could have been a fatal slash and I use the sole of my boot to kick her in the stomach and she goes tumbling onto the floor. "Sparrow come on!" I scream and I help her up and we're running.

However after about ten steps I feel a sharp, piercing pain in my shoulder and I almost collapsae to floor, when I see what it is I see it's a knife sticking out of the back of my shoulder, that knife could've been in the back of my head if I wasn't so lucky. "Come on, she might throw another one!" Sparrow screams and this gives me the energy needed to keep on going, my body's fuel being adrenaline. I grab Sparrow by the shoulder and tug her towards me, I've decided to dart to the left in order to avoid anymore nasty throwing knives and it's a good thing as well because I see another one fly past where Sparrow was. We're both running, the only thing on our minds is getting away. And we run for about two minutes before Sparrow runs out of breath and we stop, I'm sure we've escaped her. "T-th-thanks f-for, saving me." Sparrow breathes out between heavy pants. "N-no, prob-lem." I reply.

_Got a weapon._

_Got supplies._

_Got my ally._

_Now all we need is food and water._

**Lori Ariza, 14, D6F**

I just about managed to escape the bloodbath with my life. But I got wouded, a have a large gash on my back, I don't even know who did it to me, all I know is that it happened as I tried to flee. I also got punched in the face by Fiona, that girl from seven and it gave me a back eye which is stining a lot. I'm practicaly stumbling now, I just darted and found myself in a really dense woody area, well there were trees in a lot of places but this is more dense in terms of woody areas. But I'm losing blood, I can feel my life force leaking out of my cut and down my back, it's so warm and sticky, it's also really runny as well. I know why people would target me, a tall but really malnourished girl from six is such a good target for other people. I wish I could cry at this point, it hurts so much, I wish I could just curl up in a ball and sink in this mud, I wish I wasn't here, I'd rather be at my poverty riddles house than here. Please just let me go home.

I'm using the trees as support, leaning on them and almost using them to propel me me forwards, maybe I should rest. I retrieved no weapons from the bloodbath, I only managed to get a purse, I should check what's inside it now. I collapse on my bum, making a loud and disgusting squelching sound and open up the purse, a piece of silver steel wire, an empty canteen of water and a piece of rope. I just need to find Raidan, and then I'll be safe. "Raidan!" I call out to nothing inparticular and lean against a tree. _Please, someone help me. _


	22. Hunting and hunted

**Dominic Roscow, 17, D7M**

Fiona and I got clear of the bloodbath relatively unharmed. We fled towards the denser forest and I think that's a good thing, me and Fiona have been living around forest's our whole lives, navigating through this is quite easy, also it provides good cover from the careers. Maybe, just maybe the careers won't find us for now. Me and Fiona have been walking non-stop, I refuse to let either of us rest. My back is absolutely drenched with mud from my little slide at the bloodbath, so embarrassing, it made me look like a clumsy idiot the way I slipped and now my whole back is just covered with mud. Lucky I'm wearing a coat but on my legs it feels cold and wet. All I'm thinking about is how I broke Cecil's jaw, it was all in the rush of the moment and I was just acting on pure animalistic instinct, I didn't really know what I was doing but now I've had time to reflect on it...

The kid probably had a family, maybe even a girlfriend back home who thought he had a slight chance to make it home. I didn't even kill him but maybe if it weren't for me he might have made it out. _Stop dwelling on things Dominic. He might not even be_ _dead. _Maybe by some slim chance he's out there, hanging onto his life by a thread. But if I want me or Fiona to make it home I'm going to have to do bad things for good reasons. I still don't know who slashed Fiona's cheek and it makes my blood boil to think someone did that to her. Fiona managed to get her hands on a sickle, I don't think she knows how to use it but she said she just saw it laying around so she just picked it up, honestly we're lucky we got in and got out before the careers got themselves together.

The trees are huge, thick tree trunks and they're tall, but they're practically naked, they have no leaves on them, no apples growing on them or anything which is going to be trouble because I still have no idea how we're going to find food or water, we'll have to figure out a way somehow but not now, we can spend the whole second day searching for water. It's like a world of mud around here, the mud is up to my ankles, the sun is shining nice and bright, back in District seven me and Fiona would probably be on the field right now, with no one except each other. Right now our main priority is getting away from the careers, well basically any tribute.

"Raidan!" I hear a voice scream, clearly in pain and Fiona hears it as well and raises her short sword. I know Raidan is the boy from six. I raise my boar spear quickly, pointing it in the direction of the screaming. "Come on Dominic!" Fiona says and I gulp and nod, leading the way as we trudge through the ankle deep mud, after what seems like forever we find the source of the screaming, Lori from six. _Honestly, why would she scream? She's attracted tribute's to her location. _She notices us and raises her frail and skinny fists. "Stay the hell away from me! I'll fight you, I swear I will!" She shouts at us, I don't know what she expects to do to me with nothing but her fists. _Maybe I should let her go free. _But what does that mean for me and Fiona? The Game maker's will surely be angry at me for not killing her or joining up with her, she'd be no use to us as an ally and she clearly has no intention to join up with us. _I need to be thinking about what's best for us, not what's best for the other tributes. _With nothing but what-ifs and buts filling my mind I begin to advance on the injured and frail girl from six.

"Stay away from me! I'm warning you!" She screams, desperately getting on her feet and trying to back away but it's clear that she's too weak to even move, injured for sure. She points her finger to Fiona. "Cc-c-c-come b-b-back to finish the job have you? Fuck you, leave me a-a-a-a-alone!" She slurred. What did Fiona do to her. The point of my boar spear is pointing straight at her, at her chest. "I'm so sorry." I say and I try not to shake as I jab my spear forwards. And it hits, the point of my spear drives straight through her chest, going through spaces between her ribs and I think hitting some sort of organ (her lung?) I'm not completely sure but it should definitely kill her, the spear is buried deep in there, I twist the spear and with a grunt, yank it out, leaving a hole in her ribs and probably her lung. She starts making a choking sound, as if she's choking or drowning and collapses to the floor.

_Did I really just do that?_

**Raidan Bisalt, 15, D6M**

"Stay the hell away from me! I'll fight you, I swear I will!"

_That sounds like, that sounds like Lori!_

Holding my now bloodies machete in my hand I run (as fast as this mud will let me without slipping) towards the source of the noise. I walked by myself for a while before this happened, I didn't expect to be in another fight so quickly after the bloodbath. I hoped I'd be able to rest for the rest of day 1 and start being proactive come day 2 but Lori is in trouble and I have to help her. And soon enough I did find her, but as soon as I see the scene I know it's too late. First I see Lori, collapsed on the floor, gasping and choking for air while Dominic holds a spear over her neck, his girlfriend stands behind him, just watching the scene, and they're actually going to kill her! My only ally, my only friend in this arena. People usually take friends for granted, but in this arena, in the arena where everyone wants to kill you friends are never taken for granted.

The girl from seven notices me first. "Dominic look out!" She shouts and rushes towards me with her short sword. I manage to side step out the way of her clumsy stab. it's clear she's not really profecient with it. "NO, STOP! DON'T!" I shout but it's too late, he brings the point of the spear through her neck and yanks it out again. _Shit! _I think to myself as Fiona swings her short sword at me again but this time I block it and step back. **BOOM! **The sound of a canon startles me. _That could be my canon next. _Fuck this, I'm out of here. Running on the adreneline pumping through my body I take off, running away from these two demons that took my only friend away from me. _Why am I never good enough?_

**Scout Palmer, 15, D1M**

It's been quite a long time since we heard the last canon. Me and Jamee are simply trekking through this arena, not really talking much. We're staying quite close to the stream but it's so long, maybe it leads to a lake or something? Well we're going to find out. Upon examining the stream it's clear that there's no way this water is safe to drink, the water is actually brown! Luckily we have a few bottles of water back at camp so we should be fine for now. The bloodbath is still fresh in my mind, I just can't stop thinking about it. I didn't kill anyone because I didn't _want _to kill anyone. When I climbed on top of the cornucopia and I saw the tributes scurrying around I deliberately aimed for non-vital points, it was more of a subconscious decision. Killing isn't as easy as they said it would be at career academy, those kids have families, friends back home and they expect me to just rip that away from them. I was wrong about the games, they're not easy or fun. I've been helping these people get killed.

_Why can't I be more like Mason or Diamond, just be able to kill without a second thought._

Jamee decides to pick up the pace and move quicker. "I just want to get this day over with." She says as she walks quicker. I'm not as concentrated as her, could Jamee be a better career than me? I mean she's not even from a career district but I saw what she did to Victor's knees in the bloodbath, she fights with tenacity that I don't have. "Maybe we should slow down a little bit, moving faster isn't going to make the day go by quicker." I say. Jamee stops and thinks on this for a second, clutching her mace tightly in one hand. "Yea, well I guess you're right." She says and decides to sit down in the mud. "Hey Scout can I ask you something?" She asks me. I do nothing but give a simple nod of my head. "Why did you want me to join you guys?" She asks. I saw obliterate those dummies in the training centre and I knew she was something special, the way she could just easily swing the mace around and break bones and crush skulls. "Well, I saw what you did to those dummies in the training centre and it was kind of scary. There was just something about you that told me you were better than any other tribute out there, including the careers; I don't know what it was." I answer as truthfully as I can. Something just singled her out.

"Oh," Is all she says, obviously flattered by my answer. "Shouldn't we be hunting?" She asks.

"Oh yea, well let's go then." I reply and take out my bow and arrows and load an arrow from my quiver. And then suddenly I hear it, a squelch, the sound of a squelch, which means a footstep, but neither me nor Jamee has moved yet. I spin around to the sound of the squelch and see a girl, she's not too far away but I think I recognise her, the girl from twelve. She has no weapons on here, bit she's holding some sort of big log. _Run away you stupid girl._ I think to myself as I aim my bow at her but she doesn't run away, she starts running towards us! And she's quite quick, within five seconds she's close to closing the gap.

_She's actually going to attack us. _"Scout! Do something!" Jamee shouts as she readies her mace, about to pound the girl in if she comes to close.

_Go on, shoot! Shoot! _

Damn it I can't!

_Just don't miss._

And I let the arrow fly, this time towards her throat and she can't really dodge, all her momentum was carrying her forwards and the arrow sinks itself right in her throat and she drops to her knees. I don't exactly hear what's going on but then she decides to pull out the arrow, halving what little time she had left on this earth. She drops to the floor and stops moving but the scarlet blood continues to flow out, mixing itself with the mud, running down her neck and running into the ankle deep mud. _I-I just killed her. _My hands are shaking quite a bit but I try to steady them.

**BOOM! **That's her canon, echoing throughout the arena.

I can't believe I just made my first kill.

_And I've never felt more horrible._

* * *

**Lori Ariza - I wanted you to go further with Raidan but I needed someone to be hunted down. And you were injured quite badly so I just couldn't see you surviving past day one. I'm so sorry. R.I.P.**

**Olive Birk - I guess my reason for killing you was the fact that you had already given up all hope on winning. You had no drive or desire to win whatsoever and in th Hunger Games you can't have given up all hope on winning before the games had even started. I liked you as a character but as a tribute you just weren't confident enough. You were already dead basically. R.I.P.**

**Death list so far**

**24th - Kris Cecil: Jaw broken by Dominic Roscow. Axed in chest by Mason Hammerfell. (Killer is Mason Hammerfell)**

**23rd - Johan Stattic: Slashed in chest and then stabbed in back my Cedric Avery. (Killer is Cedric Avery)**

**22nd - Victor Fagin: Knees broken my Jamee Holcombe. Stabbed in neck by Diamond Illuminare. (Killer is Diamond Illuminare)**

**21st - Joshua Breckan: Skull split by Jay Stark. (Killer is Jay Stark)**

**20th - Michelle Nami: Stabbed in neck by Ziana Cubic. (Killer is Ziana Cubic)**

**19th - Lori Ariza: Speared in lung then speared in neck by Dominic Roscow. (Killer is Dominic Roscow)**

**18th - Olive Birk: Shot in the throat with an arow by Scout Palmer. (Killer is Scout Palmer)**


	23. Faces in the sky

**Ziana Cubic, 16, D2F**

Me and Mason didn't find a single tribute, maybe no tributes fled towards there, we don't know why we didn't find anyone. "Maybe tomorrow Mason." I say to him, we're both leaning on a tree together, both next to each other. He stuck his axe in the tree next to us and now we're resting. We did hear two canons, maybe the other pairs had some luck in finding some tributes or there's other tributes out there other than us looking for some easy pickings to find. "Yea, maybe tomorrow." He says, he doesn't really seem to care as much as I thought he would about not finding any tributes. "You don't seem to care that we haven't killed anyone together." I say, looking up at him. He simply chuckles slightly, not really seeming to care about it. "I'm not a monster Ziana, it's not as if I like to run around axing other kids." He answers, seeming rather amused. Well that's just another thing I've found out about him.

When he speaks I feel like shutting up and listening to him speak because I am genuinely interested in what he has to say. "So, why were you arguing with Diamond before?" Mason asks._ Ugh Diamond, that bitch is pissing me off already._ I know she's my ally and I shouldn't talk bad about her but I just can't help it. "Okay I'll just me honest with you Mason," I say and then breathe in. "I hate Diamond, all she cares about is killing people and it's as if that's the only thing that matters to her. Honestly I don't like nearly everyone in this pack. Scout is just a little kid, not that I don't like kids but he doesn't get it. He invited and outsider to be with us, we would've been fine with just five people. Jamee isn't even a career and she thinks she can act like us just because that little bitch boy Scout invited her. Cedric is just annoying, he's as young as Scout and he thinks he can act bigger than he is, I swear you're the only legit person here Mason!" I go on, and on and when I finish my rant I exhale and relax. And I love the way Mason just stands there and listens to it all without interrupting me.

"You know Ziana, I like you better than all the other careers, I feel like they don't really get it." He says. He- he understands me, he actually understands where I'm coming from. "You- you understand?" I ask and he smiles and nods. Finally a person who knows me, someone who understands. I feel myself being drawn closer to him and I feel a pair of hands on my waist. "Oh Mason, you are a lot like me." I say, gazing into his eyes. I don't care what the Capitol wants, or what the other careers will think.

_It's just best for me._

**Aksha Kayne, 18, D9F**

I can tell it's getting dark and the faces of the dead should be getting shown soon. Me and Brendon are now moving towards the big mountain, he thinks we should travel towards there. I guess I get where he is coming from, there could be water up there for sure so we should go up there, but it's going to take us days and days for us to get there, right now we need to rest. I honestly don't feel bad for leaving Johan to die, why should I? He didn't follow the plan and tried to be a hero by bringing us an unnecessary amount of supplies, our plan was to get in, get something useful and get out. I have a saying back in District nine, a personal saying. Hero's never prosper and that's the truth, what's the point in being a hero and looking out for others when you'll just get yourself hurt for someone else? It's pointless and this is the best time to have a saying like that.

I notice Brendon going towards a tree and trying to hack of a branch with his knife. "Brendon, what the fuck do you think you're doing?" I ask him, raising my eyebrow, he stops sawing the branch for a second and looks at me. "Trying to hack off this branch, what does it look like I'm doing?" He answers and he goes back to trying to saw off the branch. "Okay, why are you doing that?" I ask him, scowling at him, he's making so much damn noise trying to saw off that branch. "I'm collecting firewood, duh!" He answers, rolling his eyes and continues to try and saw the branch. _Okay, what the fuck? _

"BRENDON!" I shout at him, this startles him and he nearly drops his knife.

"What?!" He shouts back at me, scowling at me.

"Why would you try and make a fire at this time of the night? ARE YOU TRYING TO GET US KILLED?!"

"I DIDN'T SAY I WAS MAKING A FIRE!" He shouts back at me as he bends the branch and snaps it. "I just said I was collecting the wood for tomorrow!" He says with a scowl and sits down next to me. Before I can say anything back to him the loud blaring of the anthem interrupts us.

_The fallen_

_District three - Michelle Nami_

_District five - Johan Stattic_

_District six - Lori Ariza_

_District nine - Kris Cecil_

_District ten - Joshua Breckan_

_District eleven - Victor Fagin_

_District twelve - Olivia Birk_

I see Johan's face and all I think is good riddance. I know he has a family, people who cared for him but it was honestly his fault he died. I see Brendon's district partner and look at Brendon to see if he's upset or anything.

"What?" He asks me, still looking at the sky.

"Oh, I just thought you were close to Olive or something." I say.

"Hah! That weirdo? Like hell I was, she didn't even want to win. Apparently the skies or some weird shit like that said that she'd die, she didn't even have a hope of winning so honestly I'm not surprised." He scoffs. I guess I get where he's coming from, Kris was a weakling so I'm not surprised he's dead. "I guess I'll take first watch," He says and tosses me the only sleeping bag he has. "good night." He says as I crawl into the sleeping bag.

"Er, yea, good night." I say.

**Gemma Lint, 17, D5F**

The dead play before me, all the dead faces who couldn't make it out. I'm curled up in a ball, in a fetal position and leaning against a tall tree, simply staring at the sky and trying to keep myself safe, like all my days living in the mental hospital I'm curled up in a fetal position and looking at nothing notable. Johan, that boy from home is dead already but I don't care. The other tributes that will be out for me, why can't they all leave me alone? Why can't anyone leave me alone? It's not fair, it's not right, I want to be back home. It's quite funny though really, I was locked away because I was 'too dangerous' and yet I've been released into an environment where I am expected to be dangerous.

I have a big day tomorrow so I should sleep, it's dark and I can barely see a thing, but I have nothing to sleep in, back in five I had a bed but here I have nothing except for the soft but wet mud. And then an idea struck me, I take my small bag full of nothing much and climb a tree, up and up I go until I reach a strong branch, I then sit on that and tie myself to that branch with a piece of rope I got from the cornucopia. Earlier today one of the other tributes escaped me because another tribute tried to kill me, I'll find them , well if they don't find me first. _Which other comes first I suppose._ And then I slowly but surely get myself to sleep.


	24. Day 2

**Amabel Greyson**, **16, D10F**

More and more of the monsters are dead. The other monsters in this arena who are hunting me down are slowly killing each other off and I've just been trying to avoid everyone. During the bloodbath every one was running around and killing each other, no one managed to find me and I got a meat cleaver in my bag and ran away, I need a way to defend myself from the monsters after all. When I woke up I realized that I was soaking wet, either it rained and I didn't notice or something else happened. I know it was muddy but for reason there's actually a layer of dirty, brown water over the mud. It's almost as if the whole arena is slowly becoming water logged, I slowly look around and find that there's actually water all around me! _Wh-what is this?_ I think to myself, this is what I get for sleeping on the ground. The water level isn't too high I slowly get up and realize that it's about up to my ankles.

They probably made some kind of water level rise over night. _Good thing I have wellies. _As I walk there is a constant splashing sound, the water being kicked in the air by my feet. I look around the dense forest, instantly taking into account how much colder it is, it's wet, the sun's no longer shining. In fact the Game Maker's seem to have cursed us with cloudy skies and not much heat from the sun, making my body shiver as I wade through the ankle deep water, the Game Maker's waterlogged the arena on purpose, that's the only explanation to all of this. I'm so frightened, fear invades and clouds my mind as I look around, is someone near to me? I don't know, I'm so scared of the unknown. _Where is everyone? _I want to avoid all the other monsters.

I continue walking and wading through the water, the coldness has pretty much shaken my brain to full alertness. My eyes are hide open but my meat cleaver is in my hand which is simply dangling at my side. I breathe in and relax, there's no one here.

Then almost out of nowhere I feel a blinding pain in my stomach. My eyes open widely and let out a cough, I can't even scream as I feel myself fall backwards. **Splash! **I land right on my backside and I'm squealing in pain. My vision is almost dimming as I desperately try to crawl away from whatever is going on. I look down at my stomach and find the source of this pain, a black, leather knife hilt is sticking out of my stomach. I let out a cry of pain but I'm too scared to attempt to pull it out. Suddenly I hear a loud splash and I see a girl, a blonde girl standing about ten meters away from my, she must have jumped out of a tree. _Stupid Amabel. _I think to myself. I'm squirming in pain as she raises a hunting knife and begins to walk towards me. "N-no, stay away you monster!" I scream as I desperately try to back away but it's useless. She steps on my weapon wielding hand and stands over me, knife raised. "And another one bites the dust." She says and brings the knife down.

**Gemma Lint, 17, D5F**

My knife embeds itself in her chest, but it's not enough, she coughs and sputters, desperately trying to stop the flow of blood with her hands but I can see the life slowly fading from her eyes, I ruthlessly yank the knife out of the bloody mess that is her chest. Once more I bring the knife down and this time it finishes it... **BOOM!** I yank out my blood covered knife from her chest. I take the meat cleaver from her dead body but then it hits me. _She still might try and kill me, I can't trust that she's dead._ So there's only one thing I can do, I'll make it physically impossible for her to even touch me. So I lay the limp body on the ground in the water and I raise the meat cleaver and begin hacking.

It's a long and bloody job but after about twenty minutes of hacking and slicing I've finally done it, separated her arms and legs from her torso and her head from her neck. _Now she definitely can't hurt me, you can never be too sure. _I then look at the severed head of the girl from district ten, she was going to attack me, she was out for my blood as well, I know it. "Well you can't hurt me now can you, no you can't you little bitch." I say to her head, her lifeless eyes simply just watch me, not responding and the horror stuck to her face for all eternity. I stuff didn't get much stuff from the cornucopia, only this pack of knives, this bag that has an empty water canister, a twine and a pair of gloves which I am wearing. _I figure there's enough room. _I grab the head and slip it into my bag, zipping the zip, there now she definitely can't get out.

I throw the backpack over my shoulders and start running, I need to get away from here.

* * *

**Amabel Greyson - I originally wanted you to go further into the games than you did but unfortunately the competition was just too tough. You deserved a much better life than you did and I am so sorry I had to kill you off so early, but lucky you are at piece and now the 'monsters' can no longer find you. R.I.P.**

**Death list so far **

**24th - Kris Cecil: Jaw broken by Dominic Roscow. Axed in chest by Mason Hammerfell. (Killer is Mason Hammerfell)**

**23rd - Johan Stattic: Slashed in chest and then stabbed in back by Cedric Avery. (Killer is Cedric Avery)**

**22nd - Victor Fagin: Knees broken my Jamee Holcombe. Stabbed in neck by Diamond Illuminare. (Killer is Diamond Illuminare)**

**21st - Joshua Breckan: Skull split by Jay Stark. (Killer is Jay Stark)**

**20th - Michelle Nami: Stabbed in neck by Ziana Cubic. (Killer is Ziana Cubic)**

**19th - Lori Ariza: Speared in lung then speared in neck by Dominic Roscow. (Killer is Dominic Roscow)**

**18th - Olive Birk: Shot in the throat with an arrow by Scout Palmer. (Killer is Scout Palmer)**

**17th - Amabel Greyson: Throwing knife in stomach, stabbed in chest twice and then chopped up into pieces by Gemma Lint. (Killer is Gemma Lint)**


	25. The cracks

**Jamee Holcombe, 17, D8F**

I spent most of the night with Scout, he just doesn't seem to be himself anymore. Ever since he shot that arrow into Olive's throat, he didn't say a word to anyone the rest of the day and he just stayed in the cornucopia, he slept the latest out of everyone else, long after the anthem passed. I woke up late at night and he was still awake but I decided not to disturb him and now he's just sitting on top of the cornucopia, he really likes to climb things so he's just spent his time at the cornucopia, obviously something's on his mind. _Is killing someone really that bad? _I broke Victor's knees with my club and I couldn't finish him off, I don't know why I hesitated, I saw the pain on his face and just couldn't bring myself to crush his skull with the club so I left him and let Diamond finish him off.

Suddenly I see Diamond emerge from the cornucopia, with a stupid grin on her face and holding a sword with a fresh backpack full of things. "Alright losers we need to stop sitting on our asses all day, those tributes ain't gonna kill themselves y'know." She announces. This time Mason nor Ziana says anything, they're both just standing next to each other, they can't exactly sit down without getting soaking wet so standing (or leaning) will have to do. "C'mon Scout, get down from there, you've been up there all day, what's wrong anyway?" She says to him. Scout doesn't answer. "He's sad because he killed that girl from twelve yesterday." I say with a sigh. A wide grin appears on Diamond's face and before I know it's she's actually laughing. "Awww Scout you little bitch boy, sad because you made yourself useful for once?" She taunts but Scout doesn't say anything back. "Maybe you should give those arrows to me Scout if they make you cry like a little girl." She jeers even more.

She's making my blood boil, taunting a boy who's clearly not in a good place, she needs to shut her stupid mouth. I get up and stride towards that spoiled brat from one. "You know what Diamond? Shut up, just shut the fuck up because I'm pretty sure everyone here has had enough of your wannabe ruthless attitude okay? You're not strong, you're not cool so just fuck off you spoiled brat!" I snarl. And then there's a chilling silence in the air, almost as if Diamond's shock and anger is tangible in the air. She takes a strong but chilling step towards me. "What did you just say to me _outsider_?" She spits at me, her knuckles are almost white from gripping the hilt of her sword so tightly and her eyes show off an almost evil quality, like a snake ready to strike at it's prey. "You wanna repeat that? Go on then, say that whole little speech again." She challenges. I don't say anything, I won't do what she tells me to do. She raises the sword and lightly rests the flat end on my shoulder, the bladed bit pressing ever so slightly on the side of my neck. The cool and deadly steel makes my hairs on the back of my neck stand up straight. "If you ever try to disrespect me again, I will chop you up and send your ugly, bloody remains to your brother do you hear me?" She spits at me.

_What do I do? Do I swing at her? Do I just nod?_

"Leave her alone." I hear and Diamond instantly turns her head around and I look at the cornucopia and see Scout, his arrow is notched and aiming at Diamond, probably somewhere vital; his expression is cold with a hint of anger, his eyes narrowed in on Diamond. _Is he seriously threatening to kill his own district partner? _"Little baby Scout come out to play has he? You wanna try and kill your own district partner Scout? Go on, I dare you." She snarls.

However before any further threats can be fired I hear splashing followed by the booming voice of shouting. "Shut up, the three of you." Mason says, stepping in Scout's line of fire. "You three are like fucking six year olds, you guys are allies! It's only day two and you two are already threatening to kill each other. You three sicken me..." Mason says, he's clearly scowling and his anger appears to radiate from his body, the three of us are instantly silenced by his words, Scout even lowers his arrows. "I-I'm sorry Mason." Diamond says, her tone dropping from upbeat and threatening to low and ashamed. However Mason simply brushes off the apology, taking no notice of it. "Now we're going to hunt, the same teams as last time, we'll meet back here at sunset," he says, his battle axe ready in his hands, "we'll each cover the same areas as last time, I'm not concerned if we don't kill anyone today, it's only day two anyway." He says and then he walks off. Diamond shoots me a dirty look and walks away with Cedric and Scout climbs down the cornucopia. "Well, let's go then." He says and leads the way to the stream and this time I follow him.

* * *

**Death list so far**

**24th - Kris Cecil: Jaw broken by Dominic Roscow. Axed in chest by Mason Hammerfell. (Killer is Mason Hammerfell)**

**23rd - Johan Stattic: Slashed in chest and then stabbed in back by Cedric Avery. (Killer is Cedric Avery)**

**22nd - Victor Fagin: Knees broken my Jamee Holcombe. Stabbed in neck by Diamond Illuminare. (Killer is Diamond Illuminare)**

**21st - Joshua Breckan: Skull split by Jay Stark. (Killer is Jay Stark)**

**20th - Michelle Nami: Stabbed in neck by Ziana Cubic. (Killer is Ziana Cubic)**

**19th - Lori Ariza: Speared in lung then speared in neck by Dominic Roscow. (Killer is Dominic Roscow)**

**18th - Olive Birk: Shot in the throat with an arrow by Scout Palmer. (Killer is Scout Palmer)**

**17th - Amabel Greyson: Throwing knife in stomach, stabbed in chest twice and then chopped up into pieces by Gemma Lint. (Killer is Gemma Lint)**

* * *

**Sorry there's only one point of view guys, this chapter was just supposed to be based off on one event, I swear it will be back to at least 3 a chapter.**


	26. Setting up

**Borris Tango, 16, D3M**

So far everything seems to have been going okay, I ran away from the bloodbath, following the stream, that will be my strategy from now on. I could tell just by looking that the water was very, very dirty but I got lucky in the bloodbath. I found a packet, and upon studying it further I have come to the conclusion that they are water purification tablets, they are sure to kill off germs. _The other tributes are so stupid._ Nearly all of them ran and avoided them, deciding to get a bunch of scary looking weapons or things to scavenge but not me. The packet of throwing knives and the hunting knife I found are sure to be useful. I guess I just got lucky at the bloodbath, managing to get somethings that are useful and also managing to steer clear of the careers.

_Too bad Michelle couldn't do that._

Do I feel bad about leaving Michelle? No, not really if I'm completely honest. I know it may sound heartless of me but I want to get home, I have work I want to finish, I've worked too hard just to die. When I get older I want to be working in the Capitol's labs, not the little garages in District three where my brain will surely be under utilized. I want to be inventing things, I want my name to be known, I want my name to be on all the useful things people use. I want to be known; Michelle would've just clung onto me and used me to her own advantages, she wasn't exactly talented at anything so her death isn't exactly a big loss.

I've been following this stream for a whole day, maybe I should have sprinted towards the mountain but that would've meant running towards the careers. There's no way this stream can go on forever, it has to end somewhere and I will find where it ends. _It's just surviving. _I can already feel myself getting tired, my legs feel like lead and I know I need to rest. So I drop my purse (I don't care what people think of it) and lean against the tree, honestly I'm tempted to go and get some water for myself now but I don't need it yet, but soon I'll get some water but not now, I want to use my tablets when I really need them. _I'll just set up here for a little bit. _I've earned the rest.

**Jay Stark, 18, D8M**

I grin to myself as I see my next target, I climbed a tree and now I'm crouching on a branch, trying my best to keep my balance because if I fall I'll scare it away. _It's just me and you Mr. Squirrel. _I'm leaning forwards with my hand resting against the branch and my tomahawk raised high above my head, ready to throw it at the squirrel. I took off towards the huge mountain as soon as I killed that Joshua kid. I'll admit I felt sorry for him, a little kid, he had a lot of growing up to do, probably a family and someone he worked for and I killed him, splitting his skull with a single stroke of my blade. However I am not beating myself over it, I did what I had to do to survive. He came at me with a tomahawk, it was me or him and quite frankly I would much rather it wasn't me with a split skull and my brains falling out all over the place.

I've never really considered myself an evil person. Lazy, yes, selfish, yes (although I did volunteer to go into this for my brother) but evil? Never. Even now I don't consider myself evil, _I'm just doing what it takes to survive._ And even if it means killing one more person or ten more people I'll do it, even this squirrel right here. I need it for food, nothing personal against the squirrel obviously but it was put here for food and I'll use it for food. And then I bring my arm back and throw it, the tomahawk sails through the short distance and buries itself in the squirrel's back and the dead animal tips and falls off the tree, landing in the water with a splash. I sigh and quickly climb down the tree, I am actually quite hungry, I had nothing for lunch, nothing for dinner and I had nothing for breakfast this morning! It has to be nearly evening at this point and still no food.

I walk up to the dead squirrel and wrench out the tomahawk and lift the now wet squirrel up by it's leg, pretty much hanging it upside down.

_I've always wondered what squirrel meat tastes like._

**Brendon Kenzie-Corenor, 18, D12M**

_Shit, I'm so tired._

Me and Aksha have been trekking through the forest all day pretty much non-stop, occasionally stopping to rest but I swear we've been moving for too long now. Okay yes it was my idea to go towards the mountain because we're going to need food and water soon and there has got to be water up on that mountain. I feel like I'm quite behind, Aksha just has more energy than I do. "Aksha, I'm so tired." I complain, trying my best to keep up with her longer strides. She then only chuckles and keeps on walking. "What's so funny?" I ask her bitterly, scowling (can't she tell I am actually tired, we've been walking nearly all day). "I just think it's so funny how you got a _ten _in training and you're complaining about being tired." She chuckles again, I raise my hand and give her the finger as I pick up my walking pace, trying to keep up with her.

I'm trying my best to think up some lame excuse about why we should rest. "Y'know we should rest, cos of we get into a fight and I'm too tired we might die." I say. "Alright fine, if you're gonna keep being a baby about it we can rest," She says and proceeds to collapse onto the water-logged floor, making a splash, her back is leaning against a tree, I slowly sit next to her. "Fucking hell, I'm thirsty," She says as she digs into her backpack and pulls out an empty water bottle. It's almost as if the Game makers are mocking us, surrounding us with unsafe water as we slowly but surely die of dehydration. _There has to be a way to find water._ And that firewood is useless, that water would just put it out anyway, the only way to get water would be from sponsors or using some sort of water purification tablets and I didn't find any at the bloodbath._  
_

_There has to be a way to find water._

"There has to be a way to get water here, we just have to look, if we don't find water by the end of tomorrow then we're in real trouble." I state, I'm just trying to hide my own thirst. My mouth is as dry as a desert and my lips are chapped, I can barely summon up any saliva. The memory of many tributes dying slowly of dehydration hits me, _I really don't want to die like that, please no. _I have to find water, I can't die like this, I just can't.


	27. Day 3

**Sparrow Link, 12, D4F**

I only saw one face in the sky last night, that girl from ten. Me and Marree spent most of the day hungry and thirsty, I'm in desperate need of food and water. I've never really had to deal with starvation before, with me living in district four and my parents owning a shop and all, food just seemed to constantly be on my plate and water was always in my glass. Not once had I said the words 'I'm hungry' to my parents and not gotten food, and now I can't just go to my parents and ask for food or water, I have to actually find it. I don't know how to find water or, I don't know how to fish, it's all too hard, I was always comforted by my parents, maybe a little spoiled I guess, my sister was the one who did all the hard work, training, fishing; not me, that was never my kind of thing. I sometimes regret not letting my sister volunteer for me. _Maybe I was pretty stupid. _I've seen the careers, even though Cedric is my district partner he's made it clear he won't hesitate to cut me to pieces.

Me and Marree traveled all day yesterday and we left the incredibly dense forest into a more lighter forest. There has to be a stream near here or something, somewhere were we can find water.

Me and Marree slept up in trees, it's too wet to be sleeping on the ground. When I woke up and untied the rope from me I notice it's still really water logged. I slowly climb down the tree and then I notice it, the water level is _higher_ that before. It's pretty much past my ankles on on my calves. It's as if the Game Maker's are trying to slowly but surely drown us. And it seems like the Game Makers have had enough with watching us freeze, because now it's so hot. The light from the sun is shining brightly overhead. _Better than freezing I guess. _I miss the peacefulness of District four, I miss the beaches were a lot of people would go when it's summer, I miss selling fishing supplies to other fishers, I miss watching my sister train her hardest. I miss home, I want to go home, I don't want to die here.

**Splash! Splash! Splash!**

Footsteps, something's coming.

**Splash! Splash! Splash!**

It's coming closer, and closer.

_There's only one thing I can do._

I quickly sprint and begin to climb up my tree again, all the noise seems to wake Marree up. "Sparrow, what's going on?" She asks me and I point to source of the splashing getting closer. She quickly takes her saw from her bag and readies it and into sight comes running a boy, holding a machete and relatively unharmed like me. His hair is soaking wet though, he notices us, simply looking up at us. _Another tribute. _Will he try and kill me like Gemma did? "Go away!" Marree calls out. "Who are you anyway?!" I ask him.

"Raidan Bisalt, District six!" He replies.

"We don't want to fight you, go away!" Marree calls out from her tree again, this time raising her saw and pointing it at him in a threatening manner, but he doesn't really seem to want to go. "P-please just let me stay, I'm hungry and thirsty and... and my friend is dead, please." He begs, I don't know if he's acting or if he's actually scared and lost his friend. Now that I recall I do seem to remember the girl from six being in the sky on day one, did she die in the bloodbath? Marree shoots me a look, almost as if to say 'should we keep him?' I want him to come with us, after all just the two of us won't do. I slowly nod my head and Marree turns back to Raidan. "Okay you can stay, we're coming down." She says as she climbs down the tree and I follow her. "Wh-what's your names?" He asks. "My name's Sparrow Link, I'm from district four." I reply confidently, I take my bag and throw it over my shoulder.  
"My name's Marree Verana and I'm from district eleven." She answers.

"Do any of you have any food or water?" He asks is, still a bit nervous, he must be wondering if we're going to try and kill him or something. Me and Marree shake our heads at the same time, my mouth is dry and is screaming out for some sort of hydration, it's like a deserted desert in there, dry and hot. I can't even summon up the saliva to spit or anything. My tongue is parched and my lips are rough and chapped. Right now even as we speak my stomach is growling like an angry bear. I try to lick my lips, make them a bit moist but that doesn't even work. _Need. Water. Now. _My throat is burning, calling out for water, it's quite sore as well. _I know we're going to have to try and find water today or we'll die. _The memory of the cool sea in District four, it's so tempting, so calming, but it's all so painful.

"Well let's go then." Marree says and then she just walks on.

**Diamond Illuminare, 16, D1F**

I woke up quite early. I haven't dared oversleep in the three days I've been here, you never know when a group of tributes could come wandering here in the cornucopia to get some easy supplies or get some easy kills. I slept inside the cornucopia horn, no one dares try to sleep outside with all the water out there, granted it is a quite wet inside here as well but my sleeping bag keeps me dry enough. Scout and Jamee slept on top of the horn, those pair of losers. Scout's just a little kid, he couldn't even handle killing someone; he was hyped up a lot back at home but I'm honestly disappointed. Little kid's don't belong here, kids like Scout don't belong here. Same with Jamee, she's just an outsider from eight, probably thinks she's all good because her brother is a victor, well she's just an outsider and has no right to be in out pack. _Why did that little welp bring her here?_ And to make it worse he actually had the nerve to raise his weapon at me!

A can feel the unfamiliar feeling of thirst claw at my throat again. All the other careers are already awake, packing for out next hunting trip and this time Mason has said we'll all travel together as a pack. _Good. _Now I don't have to hunt alone with that annoying brat Cedric, all he does is tell lame jokes and try to 'lighten up the mood' but honestly it's just annoying. The only person here who is a true career (other than me of course) is Mason. He's actually admirable, he's a leader, he's a fighter and he's a true career. _That bitch Ziana doesn't deserve him. _What does he see in her? She's nothing, she's trained for this yes but she's not a true career, not in my opinion anyway.

"I'm gonna go and get some water!" I call out and wander over to the very back of the horn and find the crate, I slowly open the lid and find the many bottles of water just in there, I quickly take one, stuff it in my bag and close the crate. We haven't had to worry about anything as petty as dehydration. _We have all that we need right here._ I decided to swap out my original sword, I never felt truly connected to it, but with this new _halberd_ it just feels right in my hands. It has a long pointy end and is like a double-edged axe on a steel pole. _Perfect for slashing and stabbing. _

We're all armed and ready: Scout with his bow and quiver of arrows, Jamee with her dangerous Mace, Ziana with her Dory Spear, Cedirc and his sword, and then there's Mason and his double-edged battle axe. Us careers are dangerous, the best supplies and the best weapons. We earned damn well earned them. And as a pack we set off, following the stream.

* * *

**Death list so far**

**24th - Kris Cecil: Jaw broken by Dominic Roscow. Axed in chest by Mason Hammerfell. (Killer is Mason Hammerfell)**

**23rd - Johan Stattic: Slashed in chest and then stabbed in back by Cedric Avery. (Killer is Cedric Avery)**

**22nd - Victor Fagin: Knees broken my Jamee Holcombe. Stabbed in neck by Diamond Illuminare. (Killer is Diamond Illuminare)**

**21st - Joshua Breckan: Skull split by Jay Stark. (Killer is Jay Stark)**

**20th - Michelle Nami: Stabbed in neck by Ziana Cubic. (Killer is Ziana Cubic)**

**19th - Lori Ariza: Speared in lung then speared in neck by Dominic Roscow. (Killer is Dominic Roscow)**

**18th - Olive Birk: Shot in the throat with an arrow by Scout Palmer. (Killer is Scout Palmer)**

**17th - Amabel Greyson: Throwing knife in stomach, stabbed in chest twice and then chopped up into pieces by Gemma Lint. (Killer is Gemma Lint)**


	28. The price of water

**Raidan Bisalt, 15, D6M**

I feel so comfortable with my new allies. Looking for water is a hard task, we eventually found a big stream, a very long stream and we've just been trying to follow that ever since. Streams usually lead to rivers or lakes of some sort, it's a long shot but if we find it there could be clean water, if not then it'll just be contaminated like everywhere else. We've just been talking, considering where we are it's like hanging out with normal people. _These are allies I definitely won't take for granted. _I don't know if I can really call them friends, allies at the best. The way we talked someone would think we're friends, the three of us have so much in common. We all have quite a bit in common, Marree is the mayor's daughter, my parents own a shop and so does Sparrow's parents. Me and Sparrow both have siblings, Marree doesn't but she always says she wishes she does.

I honestly felt so sorry for Sparrow, she was only a little girl and she had been reaped. And she's so brave, her sister volunteered for her and she said no, she just didn't want to see her sister die. _Would I have volunteered for Cain? Could I really sit back and watch him walk to his death? _"Damn it I'm so thirsty!" Sparrow complains. As she continues trudging on.

"Wait what's that?" I ask and point my machete towards the thing. It's some sort of huge sheet, I don't know what material it's made out of but it's tied to two trees like a hammock. "Maybe whoever if there has water!" Marree says and with that the three of us break into a slow jog, stealth is basically useless in this environment, even slow footsteps still causes water to kick out and make noise. We slowly see that there's no one here, but there definitely was someone here and someone has been camping here, whoever it is might come back very soon.

"Aha!" I hear and instantly spin around, there's a guy, standing on a branch and he pulls his arm back and then sends a knife whizzing at us. I'm lucky enough to dive out of the way but Sparrow, oh no Sparrow! The knife embeds itself in her thigh and she collapses on the ground with a scream. "Oh no!" I scream as I quickly dart behind a tree so I can avoid any more knives, Marree grabs Sparrow's small frame and drags her behind another tree. _That asshole! _I will not lose these allies when I have literally just met them, no, I can't handle this alone because I know if I went at this alone I wouldn't be able to handle it. _What to do? What do to?_

The only sounds I can hear is my heavy breathing and Sparrow's cries of pain. I look to Marree who is at the tree next to me. "I'll deal with him." I whisper to her and she nods, holding her saw in one hand. Suddenly I hear the same splashing, it means he's come out of the tree. _He's come to finish us off for sure. _Since he has those knives he's surely come to slit out throats or something. I nod at her, and send her a faint smile. _It's now or never Raidan. _I couldn't save Lori, I let her die, but Sparrow, I know I can save her. Now is my chance, _now is my chance to be brave for once in my life. _And so I quickly dart out of the tree, the machete that now feels like an extension of my hand after carrying it around for two days, is clutched in my right hand tightly, my fingers refusing to let go. I see Borris, standing in front of me, another knife ready to let fly. _I'll get there first. _I let out a battle cry and as soon as I see that I'm in striking distance I swing my blade, Borris is not a career, he's not a trained knife thrower, I knew he wouldn't be able to throw it quicker than me._  
_

The water jumps up and sprays everywhere and the lethal steel blade finds it self tearing across the side of his neck and I know it's deep. I must have torn his neck almost half open with that flash. _Holy shit. _There's nothing but pure surprise in his wide wide as the blood seems to spray out of the side of his neck. It's bright and scarlet, staining his side with crimson and making the red mix with the brown water, he doesn't even say any words he drops to his knees, I think if he could he would scream. I back away as I try to stay my uncontrollable hand, it's shaking so much I feel like I'm going to drop my machete. _Did I seriously just kill him?_

**BOOM!**

The canon sounds as if an answer to my question.

_And it was all just for water._

**Mason Hammerfell, 17, D2M**

I heard another canon not that long ago. By my calculations that should be fifteen tributes left in this arena, only fourteen more have to die but we plan to make that less by the end of the day. Following the stream is the best way to go in my opinion, tributes would want to be as close to water as possible and it's also a good lookout, and for all we know there could be something at the end. Me and Ziana walked together, lagging behind the careers while the other four of them walked on, talking the whole way, just the two of us. When we eventually catch up we notice that they all stopped moving. _Why did they stop?_ I think to myself and Ziana walk on faster.

"What's going on?" I ask and then I see it. Long, too long, it's green scales are stained with brown from the mud obviously. It's eyes are red, crimson more specifically with a black pupil, the length of it's jaw catches my by surprise, almost longer than my arm and it's teeth are basically knives! Short, sharp and ready to tear into whatever has the misfortune of getting in their way. It's tail lays lazily behind it in the water. It's an alligator mutation, probably given a lot of growth hormones by the Capitol to make it grow. But we should be able to take it down, there's six of us and one of it. "Kill it." I command and raise my axe towards it. I'm staring down the beast because I do not fear it.

And then suddenly Scout pulls out and notches and arrow, aiming it at the gator's head. _Let it fly. _And let it fly he does, the arrow sails through the air and embeds itself on it's head, but nothing happens, the gator doesn't fall to the ground dead like I expected it to. _It's tougher than I expected. _It simply continues padding towards us. "Ugh you're useless Scout, I'll take care of this!" Diamond growls and charges forwards, pushing him out the way and running past me. And with a mighty grunt she brings the halberd down on the crown of it's head. I follow suite and swing my axe so it hits it one the side of it's head, and then the mutation moves no more. With a grunt I pull the axe from it's head and Diamond pulls it from it's head as well. "Good job." I say to Diamond, I take out Scout's arrow and throw it back to him. "Don't lose these." I say to him.

"Shit!" I hear Cedric say as he walks towards the stream.

"What's wrong?" Ziana asks.

"I dropped something in here," He explains as he crouches down next to it. He sticks his sword in it and pokes around, "I'm gonna reach in and get it." He says as he slowly sticks his hand in there and feels around, groping for whatever it is he dropped. He grins for a second, I think he must have got it. But then before anything else can happen his face twists into one filled with pain. "GAAAHHH!" He screams and thrashes his hand around, the other careers are instantly on high alert and turn their attention to him and run towards him. His hand thrashes around, splashing everywhere. His screams fill the air, it's as if something has grabbed his hand and then he unleashes on final scream of anguish as he falls back onto his back, clutching his... nothing. His right hand is gone, I quickly run towards the stream, careful not to fall in and see his hand, swimming away? I look more closely and see that there's some kind if giant fish, _some kind of Game Maker trap._

I turn my attention back to Cedric; his screaming is nonstop and he's bleeding a lot. "We should just kill him now." Diamond says and she raises her halberd. "No! Don't kill him!" Scout begs Diamond, stepping between her and Cedric. "Get out of my way _kid_!" Diamond snaps. Before another fight erupts I decide it's time for me to step in. "No, we're healing him!" I shout, once and for all resolving the argument. "Jamee, you're the best one here and first aid, you can help him." I say and Jamee shyly nods and quickly takes the medical equipment from her bag.

And now we've been stalled.

**Gemma Lint, 17, D5F**

I've been trying to stay hidden, hidden away from everyone who tries to kill me and who wants my blood. That girl from ten was out for me, I know she was and I killed her, I'll kill anyone else as well. But dehydration has taken it's toll on me, my tongue is like a dry desert, I can't even summon up any saliva anymore. I've spent all day in my tree, waiting, watching. I need a sign, any sign, were should I go? Amabel's head in my bag has surely shown people that I'm not to be messed with. But my bag is heavy now so I tied it to the branch next to me. I know if I sit around here waiting all day I'll die but I don't know where to go. Back in five all my food and water was brought to me by a tray, but is anyone going to give me food and water? My stomach is paining me and growling at me.

_Give me food Gemma. Give me food now!_

And my throat is no better.

_Give me water Gemma. Give me water now!_

Maybe a scary man in a white coat will come and give me a tray full of food and water again? Just like old times. _Don't be stupid Gemma. _It hurts, my throat is burning, yearning for water. But then a strange beeping seems to interrupt my train of thought. I instantly raise my meat cleaver, ready to cleave anyone and anything I see. "Who's there?" I call out but then I see it's just a parachute that's landed on my lap. It's startling but I do my best not to drop it. I slowly open it and what I find is like an answer to my prayers. Is the white coat man listening to my thoughts? A full canteen of water and a slice of cake. I only started eating cake in the Capitol and it was the best thing I ever tasted.

Someone _is_ looking out for me.

Someone actually wants me to live.

* * *

**Borris Tango: Sorry man but you had to go. Not that I thought you weren't fun to write or anything but when people were going hunting for water I knew people would be put in unfair fights. And no matter how smart you ar direct fight won't get you anywhere good. R.I.P.**

**Death list so far**

**24th - Kris Cecil: Jaw broken by Dominic Roscow. Axed in chest by Mason Hammerfell. (Killer is Mason Hammerfell)**

**23rd - Johan Stattic: Slashed in chest and then stabbed in back by Cedric Avery. (Killer is Cedric Avery)**

**22nd - Victor Fagin: Knees broken my Jamee Holcombe. Stabbed in neck by Diamond Illuminare. (Killer is Diamond Illuminare)**

**21st - Joshua Breckan: Skull split by Jay Stark. (Killer is Jay Stark)**

**20th - Michelle Nami: Stabbed in neck by Ziana Cubic. (Killer is Ziana Cubic)**

**19th - Lori Ariza: Speared in lung then speared in neck by Dominic Roscow. (Killer is Dominic Roscow)**

**18th - Olive Birk: Shot in the throat with an arrow by Scout Palmer. (Killer is Scout Palmer)**

**17th - Amabel Greyson: Throwing knife in stomach, stabbed in chest twice and then chopped up into pieces by Gemma Lint. (Killer is Gemma Lint)**

**16th- Borris Tango: Slashed through neck by Raidan Bisalt. Severed Jugular vein. (Killer is Raidan Bisalt)**


	29. Ruthless

**Dominic Roscow, 17, D7M**

"Maybe I'll get lucky and spear a fish this time." I said to Fiona about an hour ago, one hour later and still no fish has been speared. The last hour I've been throwing the spear head in and out of the water and then when I pull it out I'm only met with disappointment. In terms of water me and Fiona got lucky, we found a packet of high powered water purifying tablets, especially made in the Capitol where they will literally turn brown water into clear water. So I used my pot to collect water from the stream and dropped a tablet in it, me and Fiona drunk our clean water in the morning and now there's only hunger to deal with. I was hoping there would be fish we could eat in this stream, I noticed that the berries growing on the trees are actually deadly, I've been living in District seven my whole life and I know the kind of plants that grow on trees.

"Did you find anything?" She asks, I sigh and shake my head.

"I'm sorry babe, maybe if we move further up the stream there will be more fish." I say, hopeful, but honestly I think I may be trying to convince myself at this point. I grit my teeth and throw my bag over my shoulder and grab my boar spear, as I've been lugging it around all day it's been easier to carry, easy to attack with. "Dominic look out!" I hear and I instantly spin around to see Fiona has dived on the ground, and then I feel an explosion of pain across my shoulder and I let out an involuntary scream of pain. I look to see an arrow sticking out of it, and then once again I feel another explosion of pain in my stomach and my legs betray me as I collapse onto my knees. "Fiona! Run now!" I scream, I look at the source of the firing and see that little kid from one, bow in his hand and he's in a tree. _Careers. _Fiona gets up and sees what I see, the career pack can see me and I know they'll come for me. "But Dominic-" Fiona starts but I interrupt here, there's no time to debate. "Just go!" I yell, the pain obvious in my voice.

Finally she decides to listen and runs away. Leaving me with the careers.

_So this is what the end feels like._

**Diamond Illuminare, 16, D1F**

I grin as the District seven boy hits the ground with a loud splash. "Alright, score!" I exclaim with glee and I literally run towards the kid boy who's trying to get up. His face is twisted with pain. "Aww, trying to protect your girlfriend?" I ask in a baby voice, grinning while saying it. He doesn't say anything, he only continues looking at the ground. At this point the other careers have caught up with me, Mason has literally had to carry Cedric because Jamee said he needs to rest. Being a strong hunk Mason is, Cedric is now being piggy backed on Mason's back. "Well at least you finally made yourself useful for once Scout," I say with a grin as I take a look at the boy from seven, he's not dead, no canon was sounded and I can see him struggling to get up.

"I want this kill." I tell everyone else, daring anyone to challenge me. Cedric is tired and isn't exactly in the mood to kill, Mason doesn't really seem up to it either, Scout simply backs away and so does Jamee, not even Ziana bothers challenging me for the kill. I press the spike of my halberd on his cheek. "How does it feel to know that you're going to die by my hand? Any last words?" I ask him one last time. And for a second his hand tightens on his spear, I see a flash of rage and determination. "Yea, I have some words... Fuck you, you _bitch!_" He spits and raises his spear and stabs towards my face, had I not been surprised and moved a little bit the spear probably would've ended up dead with a spear in my eyes but it only tears across my cheek, leaving a huge gash, practically tearing a hole where part of my cheek used to be. I see a smile begin to form on his lips. "How dare you!" I scream and swing my halberd towards his neck.

It's a completely clean cut through his neck and out of the other end. His head simply falls forwards, off his neck and into the ground.

**BOOM!**

The canon is sudden but not startling, I can't believe he did that too my cheek, he did that to _my _face! How dare that lower district trash do that to my face. I reach down and pick up the severed head by the hair, the ghost of his final grin forever stuck to his face. "HOW DARE YOU? YOU DESERVE TO DIE MUCH MORE PAINFULLY! YOU DISTRICT SEVEN CUNT!" I scream at it and with all my rage I throw is as hard as I can, towards the other side of the stream. The severed head spins and lands in the ground, out of sight but my boiling rage still continues.

"HOW DARE YOU!"

**Fiona Lyte, 16, D7F**

I ran away, as fast as I could, he told me to run away because he knows it and I know it. _I can't fight. _I'm not a fighter like Dominic, I just swing my little sword around and hope for the best, no skill, no tact. Just luck. If I ran into a career I'd have no chance of surviving, back at home I was never a fighter, just a worker. I preferred to solve my problems in peaceful ways, not with violence like Dominic did. Dominic was going to protect me like he did back at home, _maybe he's still alive. _Maybe, just maybe he's alive, maybe they decided to leave him? Maybe he got away? _Yea right. _I stop sprinting, short of breath, I take in deep breaths, my heart is pumping blood through me much quicker than usual, it's beating like a hammer as I try to regain myself completely.

**BOOM!**

The cannon startles me. _It's Dominic's. Oh Dominic. _And I finally allow my self to lean my back on a tree and begin to sink to the ground. I throw my face into hands and then the sobs erupt. They rack my body as it shakes from the constant. _Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? _Why did it have to be Dominic? Why did he have to die? Why not me? When I first met him he was the best guy in the world, when I got to know him he was the best guy in the world. And now he's gone. "Why was he taken away from me? It's not fair?!" I throw my short sword into the water-logged ground and continue sobbing. _Please come back to me Dominic, I need you. __  
_

It's not fucking fair.

* * *

**Dominic Roscow - Sorry man I really liked you as a tribute but as a character you were quite difficult to write. I was jus struggling to come up with new and interesting material for you and Fiona so when the careers found you I knew I had to kill you off but killing Fiona with you would have been too anti-climatic. Fiona is definitely missing you. R.I.P.**

**Death list so far**

**24th - Kris Cecil: Jaw broken by Dominic Roscow. Axed in chest by Mason Hammerfell. (Killer is Mason Hammerfell)**

**23rd - Johan Stattic: Slashed in chest and then stabbed in back by Cedric Avery. (Killer is Cedric Avery)**

**22nd - Victor Fagin: Knees broken my Jamee Holcombe. Stabbed in neck by Diamond Illuminare. (Killer is Diamond Illuminare)**

**21st - Joshua Breckan: Skull split by Jay Stark. (Killer is Jay Stark)**

**20th - Michelle Nami: Stabbed in neck by Ziana Cubic. (Killer is Ziana Cubic)**

**19th - Lori Ariza: Speared in lung then speared in neck by Dominic Roscow. (Killer is Dominic Roscow)**

**18th - Olive Birk: Shot in the throat with an arrow by Scout Palmer. (Killer is Scout Palmer)**

**17th - Amabel Greyson: Throwing knife in stomach, stabbed in chest twice and then chopped up into pieces by Gemma Lint. (Killer is Gemma Lint)**

**16th - Borris Tango: Slashed through neck by Raidan Bisalt. Severed Jugular vein. (Killer is Raidan Bisalt)**

**15th - Dominic Roscow: Shot in shoulder and stomach by Scout's arrows. Decapitated by Diamond Illuminare. (Killer is Diamond Illuminare) **


	30. A reward

**Aksha Kayne, 18, D9F**

Exhaustion weighs my body down and thirst still grips my throat, but we're so close, so close to the mountain. I know, I know there had to be water up there. I barely even have the strength to lift my machete anymore, I just want to collapse onto the ground and sleep. My body's movements are slow and labored, my eyes flutter, opening and closing. It has long since gone dark and we'er closer to finding water, there's water up at the mountain but we're too tired to even continue travelling up it. "Do, do you want to stop?" Brendon asks in his tired voice, yawning loudly. Dehydration, huger, exhaustion, it's all too much. I only give Brendon a simple nod before collapsing onto the floor. "I'll take first watch." He yawns and tosses the sleeping bag to me.

And then I suddenly feel a drop of water hit my forehead, and then again, and then again. And then suddenly I quickly look up to the sky to feel more and more droplets hit me in the face, my mood perks up and my mind switches itself on again. "Rain!" I scream and quickly take out my water canteen and lift it up, trying to catch as many rain drops as possible. The rain comes faster and faster, Brendon does the same with his water bottle and tries to catch as many droplets of rain as possible. _Are they seriously making it rain now? _After sending a bunch of tributes hunting for water, I heard two canons tonight, where those fights over water? I know that me and Brendon aren't the only ones who are starving, dehydrated and looking for water. They were playing us, they wanted to see us suffer and fight before they made it rain.

_Bastards._

Back in District nine I used to hate the rain but now it's like my best friend right now. I'm not going to die, not yet anyway.

**Jay Stark, 18, D8M**

Oh thank you Game makers for the wonderful water. Looking for clean water was so tiring, and to just get it at the end of the day is just... great. The rain filled my bottle to about half full, that should last me at least two days providing I ration it carefully and don't spill it. I don't have to worry about starving because of that squirrel. I guess I can spend day four relaxing, my favorite thing to do in the world in my opinion. Provided no tributes come for me while I'm relaxing and provided the Game maker's don't send anything after me I can just laze around on day four. I quickly take a gulp of water, it's like a wave of relief that passes through my mouth and throat. I actually have a big grin plastered to my face, after spending three days without water I finally get it.

I put my tomahawk in my bag and begin climbing the tree, finding a strong branch I tie myself to that. And then I wait, the silence is quite haunting but not as haunting as the anthem when it shoots up into the sky.

_District three: Borris Tango. _

He's that nerd from three, he didn't really look like anything special. Maybe the careers found him or something.

_District seven: Dominic Roscow._

Now that is a big surprise, I saw him in the bloodbath, he broke that guy's jaw with one punch and judging by what I saw he had a pretty alright load out at the cornucopia. I guess the careers had a good day because that's my only explanation, a six in training means he is far from incompetent. His stoic expression is more haunting than the tune that plays. I turn my attention away from it.

The last strands of the anthem plays and then the sky is dark and silent again. _Time to go to sleep I guess._

* * *

**Sorry this was short, it's just supposed to be a quick summary of day three.**

**Death list so far**

**24th - Kris Cecil: Jaw broken by Dominic Roscow. Axed in chest by Mason Hammerfell. (Killer is Mason Hammerfell)**

**23rd - Johan Stattic: Slashed in chest and then stabbed in back by Cedric Avery. (Killer is Cedric Avery)**

**22nd - Victor Fagin: Knees broken my Jamee Holcombe. Stabbed in neck by Diamond Illuminare. (Killer is Diamond Illuminare)**

**21st - Joshua Breckan: Skull split by Jay Stark. (Killer is Jay Stark)**

**20th - Michelle Nami: Stabbed in neck by Ziana Cubic. (Killer is Ziana Cubic)**

**19th - Lori Ariza: Speared in lung then speared in neck by Dominic Roscow. (Killer is Dominic Roscow)**

**18th - Olive Birk: Shot in the throat with an arrow by Scout Palmer. (Killer is Scout Palmer)**

**17th - Amabel Greyson: Throwing knife in stomach, stabbed in chest twice and then chopped up into pieces by Gemma Lint. (Killer is Gemma Lint)**

**16th - Borris Tango: Slashed through neck by Raidan Bisalt. Severed Jugular vein. (Killer is Raidan Bisalt)**

**15th - Dominic Roscow: Shot in shoulder and stomach by Scout's arrows. Decapitated by Diamond Illuminare. (Killer is Diamond Illuminare)**


End file.
